


Be Still My Omega Heart

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alpha Keith (Voltron), Alpha Shiro (Voltron), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Beta Hunk (Voltron), Beta Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Kidnapping, M/M, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Keith (Voltron), Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Omega Lance (Voltron), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Sick Lance (Voltron), Smut, bless hunk, hunk is a great friend, later on though, oblivious idiots, overprotective keith
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-03-26 04:40:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 28,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13850298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: [DISCONTINUED -- VOLTRON WENT TO SHIT -- SORRY]Lance was fucked.Undeniably.Unequivocally.Fucked.In which Lance, an omega in space, finally runs out of suppressant pills





	1. Chapter one: Lance needs a hug

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, welcome to this fic. This is my first time dabbling in omegaverse so go easy on me. If there’s anything glaringly wrong about it, tell me and I’ll try and fix it.

Lance was fucked.

 

Undeniably.

 

Unequivocally. 

 

_Fucked._

 

Staring at the empty pill bottle, he gulped. _Stupid, stupid, stupid!_ He just _had_ to run out of suppressants in the middle of fucking _space_ of all places! This couldn’t be happening! Without his daily dose of the little yellow pill that held all his secrets, he would definitely be going into heat. And soon. Like, one month soon. _Too soon._ Lance hadn’t even _had_ a full, conscious heat before, being put on the pill ever since he presented early at the ripe and terrifying age of 11. 

 

“Ugh,” he groaned, burying his head in his hand, still clutching the devastatingly empty bottle of pills. Already, he could feel the changes in him. His pure scent, when before was dulled down by the pills, softly wafted off of him and Lance knew that by this time tomorrow it’d be extremely prominent. Oh god, the _mood swings_! He was seriously not looking forward to his emotions being all over the place. His omega side, having been dormant for years, poked its proverbial head from its proverbial hole and suddenly Lance had to suppress the urge to seek out anyone from the team and give him a huge hug.

 

_Keith. You should definitely give_ Keith _a hug. And maybe a kiss. And maybe a blowj-_

 

Yep, no, Bad Lance. Bad, bad _bad_ Lance. No inappropriate Keith thoughts. 

 

A banging at his door pulled Lance from his internal screaming. “Hey Lance, breakfast is ready!” Hunks footsteps as he walked away were the only thing to fully bring him out of his pathetic stupor. So what, his omega side was gonna come out full force. It’s not like it wouldn’t happen eventually. It’s just, the rest of the team had _no idea_ what Lance was like when he was full, unsuppressed Omega. The only reason Hunk knew was because he ran out of pills at the garrison once and it took a week to get them refilled, which meant Hunk got the whole Lance Omega Experience before he was back on the pill. Cuddling, scenting, coddling, mothering, the whole shebang.

 

Lance knew that Hunk didn’t mind. In fact, he probably preferred it because it meant that Lance was being, well, _Lance_. Not this fake, suppressed version of himself. 

 

However, how would the others react? They only knew the fake Lance, the suppressed one. Would they accept him, even though they already knew he was Omega? Would they still let him be in Voltron? Would they think he was too weak and get rid-

 

Lance stopped his thoughts before they could get any father because honestly who the fuck _cared_ what they thought. He was an omega, yeah. Everyone knew that and didn't treat him any differently, unlike how he'd been treated before on earth. Being off suppressants won't change anything. Sure, he'll definitely be more tactile and altogether omega-y, but he'll still be  _Lance._ And Lance happens to be an omega, but that's only a part of who he is, just as being the blue Paladin of Voltron was as well. And besides, Studies had shone that being on suppressants for more than 3 years was unhealthy. Lance had been on them for _7 years._ It’s a miracle he wasn’t infertile, honestly. As much as Lance dreaded the thought of going through his first heat he knew, deep down in some empty crevice of his heart that being off the suppressants but getting heats was _far_ better than being on the suppressants and being rendered infertile for the rest of his life.

Lance chucked the empty pill bottle in the trash can beside his sink, nodding to himself confidently. He could do this. He could get through a heat. He could get through the mood swings. He could fucking _do this._

 

* * *

 

 

As Lance shuffled into the kitchen, his eyes automatically landed on Hunk, who was busying himself with something by the goo dispenser. 

 

Hunk. Pure, innocent, _wonderful_ Hunk. He was too good from Lance. He should go give him a hug. And scent him. Like, right now. When was the last time he’d given his best friend a proper, omega hug?

 

Hunk turned around and smiled at Lance when he saw him. “Hey, Lance! Good Morning! I’m surprised you’re the first one here, usually Keith or Shiro are!” Lance’s eyes prickled with tears as his best friend beamed at him. Hunk was so pure, so great! Lance’s emotions were flying all over the place and he was struck by the overwhelming surge of gratefulness. 

 

Hunk immediately noticed when Lance’s eyes went misty. “Whoa, whoa Lance what’s wrong? Are you alright?” he asked, which just made Lance’s lower lip wobble because how was Hunk such an _awesome person?!_

 

Lance half stumbled, half ran to Hunk before practically throwing himself at the larger beta. “I-I just love you _so much!_ You’re my best friend and I’m so lucky to have you in my life!” 

 

“Aw, buddy, I love you too!” Hunk deflated under Lance as if relieved. “Did you run out of suppressants?” He asked and Lance, with his head buried into the Beta’s shirt, nodded with a small whimper. 

 

He lifted his head just enough to sob out; “there all gone and now I’m going to be weird until my hormones even out again!” before burying his head back. 

 

Hunk tightened his arms around the omega, “it’s okay, man. I don’t mind that you’re moody the first few days of being off them. As long as you’re healthy and off those gosh darn things, I think everything will be okay.” 

 

“Whoa,” a new voice said from the doorway for the kitchen, “what the heck did I miss?”

 

“Pidge!” the omega cried out before unfolding himself from Hunk and barreling toward the smaller beta. Said beta squeaked when Lance threw his arms around her and started scent marking her like crazy, tears long forgotten. 

 

“Ooookay! I’m going to guess someone is finally out of suppressants!” She giggled, letting the omega do his thing. 

 

Lance huffed before backing away from her, “why are you both so happy about that?” 

 

“Cause,” she said, “being on suppressants is unhealthy. Trust me, Matt’s an omega. He tried to get suppressants when he went to the garrison by my mom wasn’t having any of it.” 

“Your mothers a smart woman,” Hunk said, “being on any suppressant, whether it be for heats or ruts, is really unhealthy.”

 

Lance rolled his eyes, “well, jokes on you cause I've been on them for _seven years_ and guess who’s not infertile?” He pointed two thumbs at himself, “me!”

 

Pidge gasped in surprise, her eyes wide behind her glasses before they narrowed into a glare. “You’ve been on suppressants for _how long?!_ I mean, I knew you were on them, but for seven years?! Lance! _”_

 

Shiro and Keith walked into the kitchen then paused, taking in the scene of an angry Pidge glaring daggers at a guilty looking Lance. 

 

Shiro signed, “okay, team. What’s going on?” Before Hunk or Lance could get a word in, Pidge practically exploded.

 

“Lance has been on suppressants!” She shouted, her scent filled with both anger and concern.

 

“So…?” Keith shrugged, eyebrows raised in confusion. “As long as he’s only been on them for less than a couple of years it should be fine, right?”

 

“No, it’s not fine because he’s been on them for fucking _seven years!_ Seven years!” she redirected her anger back at Lance. “Do you even _know_ what a strain it puts on your body to even miss _one_ heat! That's, that's _years_ of missed heats!”

 

“Yeah, I know but I’m fine! Really! And besides, I’m out of them anyway so everything will be fine!” Lance yelled back, feeling tears burn behind his eyes again, this time for a completely different reason. Logically, he understood why Pidge was so angry. She was concerned and worried that the pills must have really messed up his body. He _knew_ that, okay? But the pressure of her yelling at him was seriously getting to him. Coupled with the two alpha’s shocked and concern looks that were now directed at him, he had to consciously make an effort to squash down the wobble of his lower lip. His eyes suddenly met Keith’s and he saw the angry concern in them too.

 

“You’ve been on them for seven years? Lance, that’s…even _I_ know that's bad!” Keith expressed and Lance shook his head.

 

“If you guys would listen I could explain to yo-,”

 

“Lance, I’m with Pidge and Keith on this. Those things will mess you up.” Shiro looked disappointed in him and oh _god_ Lance really needed to suck it up because he was seriously about to cry, stupid fucking _hormones._

 

“That’s an understatement!” Pidge pushed her glasses up to her nose angrily, “and why were you even on them for seven years? You should have presented around, what, sixteen? You must’ve been around 11 to be on them for that long!”

 

“I-I,” Lance stuttered out and Hunk, angelic Hunk, stepped up.

“Hey guys, just calm down. Lance is fine, he’s not infertile so the pills didn’t mess him up too bad and hey, he’s out of pills anyway so he’ll be pretty healthy as soon as they work themselves out of his system.”

 

“Yeah, okay I get that, but are we sure there are no lasting effects?” Keith asked and Lance swallowed down the lump in his throat.

 

“I don’t think so,” he muttered, looking at his feet so the alpha couldn’t see the tears in his eyes.

 

“I still want to know why the hell you were on them for so long,” Pidge demanded, crossing her arms.

 

Lance swallowed, “I presented super early. Like, at 11,” Hunk gently rubbed his back, knowing it was hard for him to talk about his presenting and first heat. 

 

“Eleven?!” Pidge screeched. Shiro and Keith bristled a little, the alpha in them not really liking the implication of a little, innocent Lance presenting at eleven years old.

 

Lance fidgeted, shifting from foot to foot, “yes, at 11. God, it’s not that bad. My mom presented even earlier than that, it’s just a family thing, I guess.” Lance plopped himself down at the table and Hunk set a bowl of goo in front of him, which he glared at. “Now if you guess would excuse me, I’m hungry.” 

 

“But, but,” Pidge waved her skinny arms around, clearly still upset.

 

“Just calm down, Pidge. If Lance says he’s fine, then he’s fine,” Shiro calmed her down, risking a few concerned glancing at the omega before everyone took their seat at the table and ate their breakfast in a tense silence.

 

* * *

 

 

After what Lance decided to dub ‘the breakfast fiasco’, he leisured his way back to his room, intending to do a little maintenance on his Bayard. He watched his feet as he walked, thinking of what the next few weeks entailed and how freaking painful it would be to go through his first heat alone as he rounded the corner and proceeded to slam into someone, head colliding into a hard chest. 

 

“Oh, _fuck,”_ he cursed, rubbing a reddening spot on he head before looking..up at…Keith? Okay, when the _fuck_ had he’d gotten taller than Lance?! How…how did this happen? 

 

“Are…you okay, Lance?” Keith asked, eyebrow raised in confusion when Lance glared…ugh, _up_ at him. 

 

Crossing his arms over his chest, he struck a sassy pose and pouted, “when did you get taller than me, mullet?” 

 

“I don’t know, when did you get so short?” Keith shot back, crossing his arms which…oh, _shit_ those arms, when the fuck did he get so…so…wait, did he just call him _short?_

 

“Ex _cuse_ you, mister,” Lance pocked a finger in his chest, “I’ll have you know I’m the tallest in my family!”

 

“Are you sure about, that? Cause from down here you look super short,” Keith smirked, chucking when Lance glared halfheartedly at him. 

 

The omega stood as tall as he could, almost lifting himself up to the tips of his toes to get completely eye level with the alpha. “I’m tall! Tallest omega in my high school! Beat that, Mister late-bloomer!”

 

A sort of silence enveloped the pair when Keith didn’t rise to the bait. In fact, he was looking down in thought, mouth opening and closing as if he wanted to ask something and couldn’t find the correct wording. Lance amusingly watched him struggle for a few more seconds, admiring the narrow lilac eyes and the thoughts raced over his face before putting him out of his misery. “You know, you can ask me about my presenting. I know you want to.” 

 

Keith, clearly surprised by Lance’s words, still looked a bit uneasy. “I just, well. You seemed a bit agitated when we were talking about it earlier so I didn’t know if I was…overstepping some boundary or something,” he stuttered out and Lance blinked at him. Since when was the alpha worried about offending Lance? 

 

“It’s okay, dude. I don’t mind answering questions when they’re not being screeched at me by a little gremlin,” Lance reassured, still a little confused by Keith’s newfound respect for Lance’s boundaries. If Lance was being completely honest, he would say that no, he wasn’t exactly comfortable with talking about his presenting because of how uncomfortable and embarrassing it was, but god damned for some reason he was going to tell Keith, of all people. Keith, the alpha who Lance was desperately pinning and covering it up with a made of rivalry. 

 

Keith shuffled his feet a bit before meeting Lance’s eyes, which _holy shit okay let's learn how to breathe again, shall we?_ “I get that you presented really young, but why be on suppressants for that long? Why not get off them when you got to a more appropriate age?” he asked. 

 

Lance bit his lip in thought before answering. “Well…the day I presented..it was…pretty bad. It happened after school when I saw walking home and…well, you know what directly follows omega’s presenting. Got a lot of unwanted attention from a lot of older alphas who didn’t seem to realize how inappropriate it was to grope a feel of an 11-year-old then ask if he wanted to sit on their cocks like a nice little omega,” Lance practically spit it out, still salty about the dick who slapped his rear and whispered those filthy words to him. “So, I was put into a medically induced coma for a week so my body wouldn’t have to go through the complete heat effects and I’ve just…been on them ever since. Guess my first heat, if you would even call it that, kinda scared me.” Ohhkaay, Lance seriously did _not_ mean to share that much. What the fuck? Where the hell is his filter?! 

 

“You…they did _what?”_ Keith’s snarl ripped Lance out of his thoughts, eyes widening at the pure anger that scrunched up alpha’s face. “You were…you were _eleven_ and they, they _touched_ you?” 

 

Lance resisted the blush that crawled up his neck, the omega in him preening at how protective the alpha was being. “I mean, yeah. That’s why I’ve always suppressed my heats. Kinda too apprehensive about sharing it with someone if they’re all going to be jerks like those idiots.” 

 

Keith stood stock still, the anger subsiding and being replaced with an emotion Lance wasn’t sure about. “You’ve got to know that not all alphas are like that. Your heat…it’s meant to be with someone special and, and nice. A nice alpha who treats you right.”

 

Lance snorted, shocking Keith into looking directly at him. “And where am I going to find a nice, special alpha up here in space? My first heat’s in a month and it’s going to be hard enough as it is, what with me having to go it alone and everything. Add in someone who I’ve only met a month prior and I might as well welcome becoming infertile.” 

 

Lance tried his best not to think of the alpha in front of him as being said Special Alpha, but damn it was hard when he was standing there, looking at Lance with that unreadable expression. 

 

Keith muttered something under his breath that Lance couldn’t understand before turning on his heels, back tense as he walked away from Lance. “Wait, where are you going?” Lance asked, resisting the urge to reach out and grab his arm to stop him and beg him to stay and hey, maybe help him through his first heat like the great pal he was which _hell no_ Lance doesn’t welcome death through humiliation, no sir. 

 

Keith barely glanced over his shoulder to answer him, “training deck.” His clipped answer made Lance wonder if he accidentally said something wrong. God, he probably did, knowing himself. He always seemed to say the wrong thing or do the wrong things that end up ticking Keith off. He didn’t _mean_ to, just as he didn’t mean for that stupid rivalry thing to actually become real and not a ploy to hide the feelings he’d had for the alpha ever since he’d first seen that mullet at the Garrison. He just…wants to be friends with Keith. Want’s him to be as comfortable around Lance as he seems to be with everyone else. 

 

Lance sighed, still standing in a now empty hallway, staring at the corner Keith had disappeared around. All this introspecting mumbo jumbo was making him both tired and in need of company other than his own thoughts. 

 

Hunk. He definitely needed Hunk’s company.

 

* * *

 

“And I just-I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong? It’s like everything I do ticks him off, you know? And I try to be nice and friendly with him but then he gets all weird and leaves,” Lance, who was sitting upside down a couch in the Lab with his head hanging off the edge, huffed. Spreading his arms out to his side, he let out a sigh, looking to Hunk for some sort of comfort or advice. 

 

Instead, Hunk just hummed from where he was tinkering with a circuit board. “I’m sure you’re just overthinking this, Lance.”

 

The omega let out yet another sign, waving his legs back and forth from where they were sticking up straight in the air. He didn’t know what to do about Keith anymore and as great as Hunk was, this wasn’t helping as much as he thought it was. “It’s like, I say something and we’ll actually start up a conversation which is, like, _freaking rad_ because I freaking love listening to him talk, ya know? And then _boom_ , something is wrong because he just turns and leaves, only telling me that he’s going to _‘find Shiro’_ or _‘go to the training deck’_ ’” Lance’s bad mockery of Keith’s earlier words makes Hunk finally turn his attention to his distressed best friend.

 

“This is really bothering you, isn’t it?” Hunk asked, turning his entire body to the smaller boy to give him his undivided attention, knowing that there was something deeper going on here. 

 

Lance let out a pitiful whine that he’d deny he had ever made if asked. “Of _course_ it is, Hunk! I’m going into heat in a _month_ and the alpha that I want to spend it with _hates me._ ” 

 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, you want to spend you heat with Keith?” Lance curled into himself the best he could in the position he was in, clearly effect by Hunks words. “That’s like, super important.” Hunk paused before something dawned on him, “Lance, do you…doyou want to bond with him?” 

 

Lance was quiet for a couple of seconds, making Hunk sit in suspense as he thought through Hunk’s words. Did he want to bond with Keith? Maybe not right then and there, hell, maybe not even during his first heat, but Lance would be lying to himself if he said he didn’t want to eventually…if they ever got passed their stupid disagreements and fake fights to even become friends, much less bond-mates. “I…yeah, Hunk. I want..I want _him._ You know? I just…I want to hold his hand and play with his freaking mullet hair and sleep beside him and have inside jokes with him and _love_ him and _ugh-“_ Lance cut himself off with a groan, burying his head into his arms. 

 

Hunk let out a low whistled, taking in his best friend with wide eyes. “Bro, I had no idea it went that far. You..really, really like him, don’t you?” 

 

“ _ugh_ yes, I really, really do. And he hates me…” Lance stopped, fiddling with his hands for a moment as a thought came to him. What if…what if Keith knew? What if he knew that the omega liked him and that’s why any time they got close he bolted? Lance let his legs fall to one side, laying there for a minute as his mind raced before sitting up, crossing his legs under him before fiddling with his sleeved, sudden insecurity weighing him down. Hunk, noticing the change in the omega’s behavior, waited patiently for him to voice his thoughts. 

 

“Hey Hunk…” he started, his voice small with the prospect of the turmoil inside him, “what if, what if Keith knows. What if he knows that I like him and that’s why he hates me? Cause he…he doesn’t want me?” 

 

The small, insecure voice of the omega felt like a punch to Hunks heart. Add on his self-destructive words and Hunk was practically doubling over with how much his heart hurt for his friend. 

 

Hunk quickly got up from his workstation to join to omega on the couch. “Hey, hey no. Don’t think that way, okay? Keith doesn’t hate you, and he sure as heck doesn’t know about your feeling for him, so you can go ahead and dismiss that thought altogether.”

 

Lance looked up at the beta with sad, watering eyes. “How can you say he doesn’t hate me when he can’t even stand to be in the same room as me?” 

 

Hunk was at a loss for words, stumped by the insecure expression on his usually overly confident best friend. “Lance…I _promise_ you, Keith doesn’t hate you.” 

 

Lance sighed, looking back down at his hands. “I..I hope you’re right, Hunk. Cause I don’t know what to do if he does.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Hunk was on a mission. A mission he liked to call ‘get-Keith-and-Lance-together’. So far, it’s not going too well. Keith was always being a dramatic, oblivious person who ran away the second he got flustered in hopes that nobody, especially Lance, notices. Hunk, however, notices. Boy, does he _notice._

 

He notices the stares, the not so hidden fond smiles, the twitch of Keith's hands when the omega is near him. As Lance’s best friend, he's _supposed_ to notice when an alpha is hardcore crushing on him. It’s some sort of bro code. Notice, then report back to the best friend. Except Hunk hasn’t reported back to Lance. Why? Because Hunk was always content to sit back and watch the awkward romance unfold. But that’s the thing, the awkward romance? Yeah, it’s not unfolding. In fact, it seems to be doing the exact opposite and tightening. 

 

So, Hunk started gently nudging the romance together; getting the two boys in the same room together, getting them to engage in conversations with each other, getting them to flipping _interact_ with each other. Needless to say, it was harder than he’d thought it would be, but he was content with how it was working out. Slow, sure, but maybe working. 

 

Then Lance came to Hunk and told him with wide, devastated eyes, that he thought Keith hated him. That he though the alpha didn’t want him. That was the final straw. Hunk knew that Lance was trying to interact with the alpha, but Keith was barely making an effort! Just running away from his feelings like the typical stubborn alpha. 

 

It had to stop. His best friend was getting hurt because of this. And not to mention just how far Lance’s infatuation with the alpha ran! Knowing Keith, sooner or later he’d accidentally say something that would completely break Lance’s innocent heart. Hunk wasn’t going to let that happen. No sir, not today Satan. 

 

And so here he was, viciously whisking at a bowl of ingredients with Keith standing awkwardly behind him. 

 

“Uh, Hunk?” the beta didn’t have to look behind at the alpha to know he was shuffling on his feet in confusion. “Why did you call me to the kitchen? Where are the others?” Hunk put down the whisk and bowl before turning to Keith, given him a serious look. 

 

“I need to talk to you,” Hunk knew he was being vague by the eyebrow raise he got from Keith, so he clarified a bit. “About Lance.” 

 

Keith’s eyes widened in surprise before he checked himself and schooled his expression into a bored look. “So, what about him?” 

 

Hunk sighed, wiping his hands free of alien flour before crossing his arms. “Look, Keith. I know you have feelings for Lance.” Once the ball was dropped, hunk watched in amusement as the alpha instantly flushed, mouth slack open by his bluntness before he quickly scrambled for some sort of excuse. 

 

“I-I don’t, what..” Keith weakly stuttered out, frantically looked around the room as if expecting the omega to pop out with a smirk and mock him.

 

“Don’t worry, Lance doesn’t know,” Hunk reassured, watching as Keith slightly relaxed at the words before crossing his arms in a defense, clearly uncomfortable. Hunk sighed. “Why don’t we have a seat.” Pulling two chairs out, Hunk plopped down in his chair while Keith hesitantly sat on his, face still flushed and eyes darting around frantically. 

 

“Look, I don’t know what you’re talking about-“ Keith started before Hunk cut him off.

 

“Cut the crap, Keith. I know you like Lance, I’m not going to tell Lance, so you can stop denying it.” Keith paused for a minute, eyes searching Hunks before he basically deflated where he sat, hunching over and sinking into his seat. 

 

“So what?” he said weakly. “What’s it to you? It’s not like it’s affecting anything.” 

 

It was Hunk’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “Seriously dude? Lance is my best friend, bro. Anything that effects him effects me. And don’t give me that whole ‘it’s not effecting Lance’ because it _is.”_ Keith grew tense in his seat. 

 

“It’s not affecting him though, okay? It’s just a stupid crush that’ll go away eventually.” 

 

“Bro, if it hasn’t gone away now it’s not going away anytime soon,” Keith opened his mouth but Hunk cut him off before he could even start, “and before you go on with the whole weird denying thing you’ve got going on right now, I’m gonna go ahead and say that I’m completely okay with you crushing on my best bud. However, what I’m not okay with,” Hunk leaned forward in his seat to emphasize his point, “is how you’ve been avoiding Lance anytime you start feeling things. I understand that it’s hard to hide your feeling from Lance, especially with him being so vulnerable while getting those suppressants out of his system. But my man, you need to stop running away from him.”

 

“I’m not running away from Lance!”

 

“Yes, you are. And you know what happens when you do? Lance thinks he’s done something wrong. Thinks he’s messed up again and ticked you off or something.” Keith was silent as Hunk talked, his eyebrows drawn up in surprise as guilt flickered over his eyes. _Bingo_ , Hunk thought. And now for the icing on the cake. “You know what he said to me just now? He said that he think’s you hate him. Thinks you can’t stand to be in the same room as him.” 

 

Keith practically jerked out of his seat, eyes wide with outrage “I don’t-I don’t _hate_ him! How can he think that?” 

 

“What else is he suppose to think? You’re always running away from him,” Hunk sighed, leaning back in his chair. “Look, man, I’m not asking you to confess your feeling for Lance or anything like that, but stop running away from him. He wants to be your friend, wants to make something work between the two of you. And who knows, maybe something great will come from it if you stop constantly ignoring him. Because as much as he’d deny it, it’s hurting him.”

 

Keith was quiet, looking at some stop on the floor with a devastated face. “I don’t...I don’t _mean_ to. It’s just that he’s so, so _Lance._ ” He rubbed his face before leaning back in his sea, face defeated. 

 

Hunk chuckled before reaching up and patting the alpha on the back. “I get it, man. I totally do, but bro you need to start talking to him. Or at least stop ignoring him.”

 

“Yeah…yeah, okay. I’ll…yeah. Thanks, Hunk.” The beta smiled warmly at the awkward alpha.

 

“You’re welcome, Keith!” 

 

Keith got up from his seat and, turning back to offer Hunk a small smile, left the kitchen. Hunk watched him as he left, feeling confident in his work. Maybe now that Keith will (hopefully) stop ignoring Lance, they can finally get their oblivious heads out of their butts and admit their feeling for each other. At least, Hunk can hope.

 

 

 


	2. Note to Self: don't fight space furries while sick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is sick, which sucks ass because now he has to fight purple space furries? What kind of bull shit is this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi so, here's another chapter. Warning, this story just totally turned into a sickfic and I ain't even mad. Enjoy and thanks for comments and kudos, I honestly didn't think people would actually read this.

Lance woke up feeling like absolute shit. His head was pounding the moment he opened his eyes and he felt like he’d been hit by a truck. A very large truck. Moving very, very fast. Repetitively hitting him. 

 

He laid there for a second, then two, then three, before groaning at the incessant pain at his temples. Satan was real, and in that moment he was doing a jig on Lance’s _fucking brain._ Lance groaned before mentally shaking himself out of his our head, swinging his legs over his bed and standing up…..

 

Before falling right back down onto his bed. His head swam and little black dots flashed around the edges of his vision. _What fresh hell is this?_ He thought, lowering his head to rest between his thighs to calm down the dizziness that assaulted his entire body. With his head continuing to pound, he could stop the small whimper that escaped his mouth. 

 

“Fuck,” he groaned as he stood back up, slowly this time, and moved to the bathroom attached to his room. It was just his luck, getting sick with some sort of funky space flu. Is it even the space flu? Is that even a thing? Lance had no idea, all he knew was that he felt like absolute crap. 

 

When he saw his reflection in the mirror, he recoiled. He even _looked_ like shit. He had eye bags, _eye bags!_ His usual Cuban glow looked pale and, well, sickly. He just looked _sickly_. Rubbing a hand down his face to get some of his usual color back, he glared into the eyes of his reflection. This was just fucking great. And he literally just got done with the mood swings—

 

“ _Attention Paladins, we’re picking up Galra ships on our radar! Suit up and meet at the hangars!”_

 

The omega winced in pain at the loud crackling of the intercom. Jesus fuck, this couldn’t be happening. Right now, of all time? When Lance was sporting probably the biggest headache he’d ever had? When he felt like he was just about to collapse at any moment?

 

_“Lance, please report to your hanger! We don’t have time for you to be late!”_

 

Lance groaned, both in pain and in exasperation. _Guess I’ll just die,_ he thought before quickly shoving on his armor and rushing out of his room. He cut a few corners and tried to swallow down the lurch of his stomach as the world around him spun. When he finally got to the hanger, Blue stood regally in front of him. Her presence filled his mind and, thank _god_ , eased some of his headache. He could feel her concern for him as she gently let her calming presence envelop him, noticing that it was helping him. 

 

“Don’t worry, Blue. I’m fine!” he reassured her as he quickly ran up into her now open mouth. She pushed her hesitancy and concern onto him once more, slowly standing as if trying not to jostle him. “I told you, blue! I’ll be fine. Let’s just get this over with and then I’ll go see Coran about getting some type of medicine.”

 

She finally stopped nagging him and pushed on the thought combination of him and stubborn. “ _Pfft,_ excuse you I am _not_ stubborn.” He felt the impression of laugher and cracked a smile before switching on his comms and sliding into the pilot's chair, wincing in discomfort when if jerked him into position and the world spun once again.

 

_“Lance, are you ready?”_ Shiro’s voice filtered from the comms and Lance winced at the volume of it. 

 

“Yeah, I’m ready. Sorry about taking so long,” he started up Blue and took off from the hanger. Once out of the castle, he saw the rest of the Paladins all hovering in space and a Galra battle cruiser heading their way. “Holy shit, that’s a big ship.” 

 

_“That’s an understatement,”_ Pidge deadpanned and suddenly the screens came to life with everyone's face. 

 

Hunk smiled, “ _Hey, Lance! Good morning!”_

 

_“How you find this a good morning is baffling,”_ Keith muttered as they all advanced onto the oncoming horde. 

 

“Well,” Lance started, “I gotta agree with Keith, Hunk. Waking up to Galra fighting is really not the way I’d like to spend my morning.” 

 

“ _I’m sorry, but did Lance just agree_ _with Keith? Lance, are you feeling well?”_ Pidge snarked and Lance rolled his eyes.

 

“Oh har, har, at least I’m not a gremlin.” 

 

“ _Hey!”_

 

“ _Alright, team,”_ Shiro interrupted, always the voice of reason. _“We’ve gotta take out that cruiser before they gain the upper hand. Lance, Keith, Pidge, you guys take out any oncoming enemies while Hunk and I deal with the big one,”_ Shiro ordered, his voice stern and to the point.

 

Lance went to answer but was cut off by a throb of his head. _Ugh, this is not good._ Blue quickly went to soothe his head again, her concern evident as she slowed down a bit, steadying herself so not to jostle him. 

 

“ _Lance, are you okay?”_ Keith suddenly asked and Lance blinked before squinting past the pain at the monitor holding the alpha’s face. His eyes were flickering from the enemy slowly advancing in front of them to what must have been the monitor of Lance’s face, his eyebrows furrowed in slight concern. 

 

He huffed out a small laugh. “Yeah, I’m good. Worry not, the Lance train is as spick as span!”

 

_“Are you sure, buddy? You’re looking kinda pale?”_ Hunk asked, leaning forward and squinted at the screen holding the Omega’s image. 

 

Lance quickly brushed away their concern. “I just haven’t done my regular beauty routine is all.” Not exactly a lie, but hey. Can you really blame him? 

 

_“Guys, we’ve got incoming!”_ Pidge warned.

 

Shiro pushed Black forward, “ _Alright team, let's do this!”_

 

Lance spurred Blue on, shooting down the now fast approaching Galra battleships. His head pulsed every now and then, causing him to miss a few shots, but he pushed through as he maneuvered Blue in ways that he’d usually thoroughly enjoyed but now absolutely hated as his stomach lurched with every extravagant loop or barrel roll. 

 

_“Lance, watch out!”_ Keith yelled through the comms and before the omega knew it a shot lurched through Blue, causing him to jerk uncomfortably in his seat. Blue light’s flickered a bit before fixing themselves and a damage report blinked onto the monitor, but Lance didn’t notice as he let out a small whimper, the pain in his head cranking up tenfolds. He sat there with his eyes squeezed closed, trying to will away the pain behind his eyes. Blue gentle concerned probing causing him to open his eyes and immediately regret it. Everything spun for a few seconds and black practically overtook his entire vision before slowly clearing after a few blinks. 

 

_“Lance!_ ” Keith yelled and Lance vaguely noticed Red swooping in and cutting down the Galra that had surrounded the Blue lion in her moment of weakness. “ _Lance, are you okay?! Answer me, dammit!”_

 

“Y-Yeah,” he breathed out, shaking off a bit more dizziness. “I’m, I’m okay. I’m okay, just a bit jostled.” Lance could hear Keith breathe out a sigh of relief and felt his heart squeeze. He hadn’t meant to make the alpha so worried. Honestly, though, it was kinda…nice. He was actually worried about Lance. That was a good sign, right? 

 

“ _What happened?”_ Shiro demanded, sounding a bit breathless as he worked with Hunk to take down the cruiser.

 

Lance was quick to reassure the older alpha. “Don’t worry, Shiro. Everything's fine.” 

 

“ _Everything is_ not _fine, Lance! That shot looked pretty bad! Are you sure you’re not hurt anywhere?”_ Keith argued and Lance did a quick looked over himself to make sure he actually hadn’t gotten any real damage before nodding this head.

 

“Yeah, I told you. I’m not hurt, just a bit jarred. I’ll be fine,” and with that, Lance swooped back into battle, trying to ignore the pain in his head and the dizziness as he shot down galra after galra. Keith kept red close to Lance, probably keeping an eye out to make sure Lance didn’t fuck up again.

 

Suddenly, a loud explosion flashed a short distance away from Keith and Lance, causing their lions to shake a bit. 

 

“ _The heck was that?”_ Pidge demanded, swerving Green around to face the source of the explosion. 

 

_“The battle cruiser,”_ Hunk stated rather smugly, his face popping up on everyone’s monitor with a smile. 

 

“ _Alright, team let's not get too cocky. We’ve still got these battleships to deal with.”_ Shiro’s concern was unnecessary as the five paladins quickly cut through the remaining galra until all the was left was floating debris scattered throughout space. 

 

_“Well done, Paladins!”_ Allura’s chirpy voice beamed through the comms and Lance flinched. He just really wanted to sleep. And throw up. And sleep some more. And maybe die a little bit, but who knows? _“Head back to the hangers and get some breakfast, you all deserve it!”_

 

A few affirmative groans sounded through the comms as they all maneuvered their lions back to the castle. “ _I can’t wait to actually eat, I’m starving,”_ Hunk complained, but Lance barely heard it as bouts of dizziness affronted his vision. He could barely see, much less pilot and at this point, Blue was practically steering them back to the castle herself, her gentle concern from before not so gentle anymore as she quickly picked up the pace. Quietly groaning so not to concern his teammates, the omega leaned back in his seat and swallowed down the helplessness he was feeling as he tried to squint pasted the painful headache behind his eyes. _What fresh hell is this?_ he pondered as Blue gently landed them in the hanger. 

 

He sat there for a couple seconds, letting Blue focus her energy on soothing his headache before his name was being called from outside. “Thanks, Blue,” he whispered before groggily standing to his feet, wobbly as the world spun. He slowly made his way down the ramp of her open mouth, waving off the concern he felt from her and making his way to the Keith. He stood with his arms cross, an eyebrow raised in impatience. 

 

“What took you so lon-“ he stopped himself short when he got a proper look at Lance’s face before he rushed forward. “Lance, are you okay? You look…” he trailed off as his eyes searched the omega’s face. 

 

Lance cracked a weak smile, “as gorgeous as ever? Yeah, I know,” oh god he really must have looked bad if Keith didn’t even scoff at his poor joke, instead stepping forward and pressing a cool hand onto his forehead which felt like heaven on his overheated skin.

 

“Holy shit, Lance. You’re burning up!” Keith exclaimed and started pulling his cool, soothing, _wonderful_ hand away. Lance couldn’t stop the soft whine that escaped him at its lose, his body leaning forward as if to chase after Keith’s weirdly cold hands. Or at least, it tried to until dizziness overtook him, blurring his vision and making him stumble forward and into the now distressed Alpha’s open arms. 

 

His vision blacked and the next thing he knew he was looking up at Keith, his own name being ringing in his ears before his vision faded again and unconsciousness welcome the omega.


	3. Keith is Freaking the Fuck Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is seriously panicking because Lance has passed out in his arms and as must as he would love to hold Lance, he'd imagine it'd be in much, much better circumstances.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here ya go! Have some Keith POV!!! And some sick Lance!!! Which btw I did not plan at all. It just kinda happened?? Oh well. Sorry that this is on the short side, I'll try to make the next chapter longer.

 

Keith was panicking. Lance has just passed out in his arms and shit, fuck, Keith was _definitely_ panicking. Lance looked so sick. Hell, he even _smelt_ sick! His usually pleasant scent was tainted with the sourness of sickness and Keith cursed himself for not noticing it earlier. He knelt on the floor, readjusting Lance in his arms before hoisting himself up, noticing how light he was. The omega’s head lulled to the side, resting in the crevice of Keith’s neck and Keith’s heart skipped a beat. This was the closest he’d ever gotten to Lance and it was when he was passed out in his arms, face deadly pale except for a small flush on his cheeks signaling fever. “Lance, can you hear me?” he asked, shaking him in his arms a bit to try and get any sign of life from him. 

 

The omega let out a small whimper at the movement, immediately making Keith stop. “K-Keith…?” Lance cracked open his eyes, squinting up at the alpha. 

 

“Lance! Oh thank fuck,” he whispered to himself before readjusting his grip on the omega to press his hand against his cheek, wincing at how hot it felt. He thought of the hit Lance had taken during the fight and felt like an idiot. “Are you hurt anywhere?!” He dragged his eyes over Lance’s still body, not noticing any immediate injuries. So he wasn’t physically hurt. Was it some sort of sickness? Did he contract some sort of space flu?! 

 

“Keith…” Lance whimpered out again and lifted his head up, pressing it against the junction of Keith’s scent glands before he lost all signs of consciousness and went slack. _Shit shit shit shit!_

 

“Lance!” he shook him again and, when getting no response, clutched the unconscious omega in his arms and took off out of the hanger. “I’m gonna, I’m gonna get someone. Just- you’re going to be fine.” At this point, Keith was just trying to reassure himself as his heart hammered in his throat, footsteps echoing through the halls as he searched for someone, anyone. He held the omega close to his body, hoping that his own body temperature would help. 

 

“Shiro!” He called out, his voice wobbly with panic. “Anyone! Coran! Hunk!” he rounded the corner leading to the bridge and came face to face with Allura. She dropped her tablet in surprise, eyes widening when she saw Lance’s still form in his arms. 

 

“Lance!” She exclaimed before rushing forward. She reached out of the omega and Keith couldn’t help the growl that chocked his throat, protectiveness surging in him as he twisted away from her. 

 

“Where’s Coran?! Lance- he needs a healing pod or, or something!” Keith babbled, rushing toward the bridge. 

 

“Keith,” Allura yelled as she followed ager him. “Keith, wait! What happened!” 

 

Keith let out a groan of frustration. “I don’t know, okay?!” God, he was such an incompetent alpha! Couldn’t even protect his omega! “He came out of Blue and then just, just _collapsed_!” He vaguely heard Allura yelling after him as he burst onto the bridge, surprising Shiro who was looking through schematics for their recent battle plans. He immediate gauged the situation and rushed forward. 

 

“What happened?!” Shiro barked, reaching for Lance. Keith bit down the growl this time, but couldn’t hide how he tightened his grip on Lance and stepped back. Shiro paused before raising his hands in a 'calm down' gesture. “I’m not going to hurt him, Keith," he reassured him before slowly reaching out and gently pressing his hand against Lance forehead, wincing at how hot it was. "Just— we need to get him to the infirmary, okay?” 

 

Keith jerked himself out of his protective alpha haze and at that moment felt helpless. Lance was passed out in his arms, something most likely terribly wrong with him, and here Keith was practically growling at the people who were trying to help! What kind of alpha does that? Certainly not one Lance would potentially want to be with, that for sure.

 

He jerked his head in a nod and the pair took off towards the infirmary, Allura following close behind as she talks through the comms with who Keith presumed was Coran, telling him to prep a healing pod.

 

The rounded a few more corners and then rushed through the infirmary doors, Coran already there prepping the equipment. The gingered Altaen stepped forward, hands reaching for Lance. Every bone in Keith’s body told him to keep the omega in his arms safe, don’t let anyone touch him. But Keith was smart and more controlled than that. He knew that whatever was wrong with Lance was something he couldn't fix. Coran though? Coran could help. So he, albeit hesitantly, handed the omega over with shaking hands. Coran immediately went to work and laid Lance out on one of the beds, grabbing his equipment and scan him over, frowning at the results. Keith’s eyes were glued to the omega, heart hurting at how small he looked in the bed. He didn't know what the  _hell_ was happening and he wanted-- no,  _needed_ to know that whatever was going on with Lance, he'd be okay. Oh  _god_ , please let him be okay. 

 

“Keith,” Shiro put a hand on his shoulder and he jumped, forgetting about the other alpha. “What happened?” 

 

Keith raised a shaky hand and rubbed his face. “I-I don’t really know. He, he stepped out of Blue and then just, just kind of collapsed. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.” 

 

Hunk ran into the room with Pidge right behind him, startling everyone. He immediately grew pale at the sight of his best friend lying on the bed. “What’s wrong? Lance?!” 

 

Coran sighed as soon as he was done scanning and stepped back. “Lance is…sick”

 

“What do you mean, ‘sick’?” Keith demanded, anger bubbling up within. Obviously he was sick, just fucking look at him!?

 

“It’s the suppressants, isn’t it? He’s going through withdraws or something,” Pidge’s wobbly voice pulled Keith out of his own raging thoughts and he looked over. The green paladin was moving towards the monitors showing the scans Coran had done, eyes flicking across the screens at a speed he couldn’t even track. 

 

Coran hummed and hurriedly typed something on the tablet next to the bed Lance was on. “I believe so. He’s been on those suppressors for 7 of those things you call years? I believe that, while the withdraws were practically nonexistent, they did leave his immune system extremely low, allowing for his to contract a virus.” 

 

“Okay so, fix it!” Keith demanded, practically stomping his feet like a child. “Put him in a pod, do _something_!” Shiro put a warning hand on his shoulder and Keith fought off the urge to snarl. He didn’t like seeing Lance so, so _vulnerable._ He was practically shivering in the bed, sweat coating his face as his face pinched up in what Keith hoped wasn’t pain. Seeing him so small made the alpha feel so fucking useless!

 

Allura moved to peer over Coran’s shoulder at the screen. “I’m afraid that a pod will do nothing for him. The healing pods are more for…physical ailments. Lacerations, abrasions, that sort of thing. Lance has a viral infection that must be fought using proper medication.” 

 

Hunk had moved to sit beside Lance, placing a hand on his forehead before unfastening Lance’s chest plate, gently removing it. “Okay, okay, we can do this. He's just got, like, the space flu, right? I've dealt with a Lance sick with the flu. We-- we can do this.” Keith, not wanted to think too much on how scared Hunk sounded, sat at the edge of Lance’s other side and worked to remove the blue paladin armor with Hunk, both of them working with a pregnant silence between them.

 

Coran, who was rooting around in a cabinet at the far side of the room, let out an ‘aha’ sound before grabbing a small vial filled with a strange grey liquid. “Here it is!” he typed something in on the tablet and nodded to himself. “Lance has got a common Altean illness known as Kzaticans Fever, a.k.a Floaters. It makes those who get it extremely dizzy with a very, _very_ bad headache. A small tweaking of the original treatment to fit your Human biology and it should heal him right up!” 

 

Keith pulled a blanket from the bottom of the bed over a newly amour-less Lance, tucking in under his chin before brushing Lance’s hair out of his sticky face, almost marveling at how soft it was. 

 

“How long will that take? Tweaking it, I mean?” Keith heard Shiro asked and lifted his head to listen. 

 

Coran stroked his mustache in thought. “Well, I can’t be sure, but I’d say around 2 days at most. In the meantime, we’ve got to make sure he gets enough liquids and food into his body.” 

 

“I can help with recreating the new medicine,” Pidge stepped up, pulling something up on the monitor and quickly typing up something. “By the looks of it, it seems to work much like a cough syrup. If we just configure it to fit human biology, it should help him recover.” 

 

“Okay, Paladins,” Allura clapped her hands together to get their attention. “Pidge and Coran, you two should start working on the treatment…cough syrup, you called it? I want someone to be by Lance’s bedside at all times. We can take up rotations until he’s awake and then go from there.” Coran and Pidge both booked it out the room talking strategy and Keith glued his eyes back on the omega. 

 

“I’ll go first,” Keith spoke without fully realizing he was even opening his mouth, blinking in surprise at his own voice. _Shit,_ that wasn’t suspicious at all, going by the knowing look Hunk sent him. 

 

“Alright, I’ll go get some water for him and start on making him so food for when he wakes up. He’s got to have a lot of sustenance, right?” Hunk, not waiting for an answer, nodded to himself and stood from Lance’s bedside, passing Keith and pausing to pat him on the shoulder before leaving the infirmary, muttering about recreating chicken noodle soup under his breath. 

 

Keith pulled a chair from the corner of the room to Lance’s side and sat, ignoring Shiro and Allura as they both took on more look at Lance before leaving. He scanned over Lance’s face before brushing his hand more intently through the soft brown locks, not holding back now that he was alone. He frowned when Lance grimaced in his sleep and grumbled a bit before turning his face towards Keith, unconsciously leaning his head into the alpha’s hand. Keith’s breath stuttered at the omega’s actions, his heart skipping a beat. It was so _unfair_. How was it that the only time Keith could get this close, actually _touch_ Lance, was when he was sick, unconscious with some virus that Keith didn’t even notice he had? 

 

Keith gently removed his hand and leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest and his eyes swept over the omega, frowning deeply in thought. He could do this. He was Keith Kogane, Paladins of the Red Lion. He could help Lance get better and not mess this up and when Lance finally woke up and get better, he would do what Hunk told him and become friends with the omega. He would stop running from him every time his smile got to be too much for his heart and actually spend time with him, his feeling be damned. He could fucking _do this._


	4. Unrequited - or is it?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is sick and feels like shit, but hey at least Keith is there to make it all better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaannnnnddd here ya go. I was gonna make it longer but decided to save the next part for the next chapter. Hope y'all like it and, uh, just have fun with some sick Lance!

Lance regained consciousness feeling like a slug. His mind was groggy and he couldn’t think straight, couldn’t even open up his eyes. Where was he? Everything was just…slow and there was a strange weight on his lower body. The last thing he really remembered was…Keith? Looking up at Keith…? Keith looking down at him? Why? That didn’t make any sense, like, at all. He wiggled his toes a little bit, just to make sure he wasn’t dead or anything. Annnnddd, yep, totally alive. 

 

The omega cracked one eye open and immediately regretted it when sudden light assaulted him, as well as one _hell_ of a headache. He slammed his eyes shut, his throat croaking out a soft groan as he cautiously blinked open his eyes, glaring at the ceiling. Without even looking around he could tell he wasn’t in his room, so where the hell was he? Next to him, something moved and instantly he tensed up, headache momentarily pushed aside in favor his eyes widening in terror. There was something right. Next. To. Him. _Shiiiitttttt._

 

He slowly inched his head to the side, careful not to make any sudden movements to jar his head and worsen his killer headache. When he saw nothing immediately beside him, he lowered his gaze and—oh. 

 

Keith was there, arms crossed under his head, his upper body draped over Lance’s legs while his other half was curled up in a chair pushed right up next to the bed. Lance’s heart stuttered in his chest at the sight of the alpha’s sleeping face. His hair had fallen halfway over his eyes and his face would have been the picture of peace if not for the troubling furrow between his brows and the twitch of his lips as he grumbled in his sleep. _Nevertheless,_ Lance through as he stared eyes wide at the sleeping alpha, _he’s definitely a cute sleeper._ With his soft black hair just so _there_ and beaconing for Lance to touch, to run his hand through the ebony locks to see if they were as smooth as they looked, it was hard to resist. His skin looked soft too, like velvet and Lance’s fingers ached with the need to run over the slope of alpha’s cheekbone. Did he dare…?

 

The omega gingerly reached down a slightly shaking hand and lightly touched the hair that had fallen into Keith’s face. Holy shit, he was actually touching Keith’s hair. He was _touching_ Keith’s _hair!_ He steeled himself for his next move and gently pushed the hair back, tucking it behind his ear as gently as possible so not to wake him and be forced into a rather awkward situation. It’s not like he could play it off, bro’s don’t usually sensually caress another bro’s hair. 

 

Keith suddenly shifted and Lance jerked his hand back, heart suddenly beating hard in his chest. He slammed himself back down onto the bed and instantly regretted every decision he’d ever made in his entire life when his brain seemed to swim behind his eyes and his head ached at the sudden movement. He couldn’t stop the whine that emitted from him, instantly ashamed of the noise before all care went out the window as whatever the hell was wrong with him came back full force. He couldn’t stop the full-on distress that reeked off of him at this point.

 

Keith, having shot awake at the sound of the omega’s whine, leaned over and gently cupped Lance’s head in his hands, a rumble emitting from deep within his chest in response to the omega’s sour scent. Lance’s hand acted on its own accord and grabbed the alpha’s shirt, clenching it in his fist as if the single act of holding some part of the alpha kept him grounded.

 

“Lance?” he whispered oh, so gently and Lance cracked open eyes he didn’t even know he had closed in the first place. Keith breathed a small sigh of relief when blue met violet. “You’re okay, it’s okay. Calm down, it’ll pass eventually.” 

 

True to Keith’s words, after a few painstakingly slow seconds the overall dizziness left and the headache dulled just a bit. He took a deep breath that turned into a wheeze, which turned into a cough which caused his head to swim as his throat itched with cough after cough. _Holy hell_ what _is this?!_ Keith leaned away towards the table next to his bed and grabbed something before gently pushing (read; shoving) a water pouch into his face, moving the straw into his mouth.”Drink,” he ordered and Lance obeyed, sucking up the precious liquid like it was life or death.

 

When the pouch was sucked dry Lance leaned back into the bed, finally letting go of the now wrinkled shirt in favor of curling up and holding his head as his headache returned. “W-What’s wrong with me…?” he whispered, looking past the hands holding his head to squint up at the alpha who looked like a smorgasbord of emotions ranging from concern to relief. 

 

He cleared his throat and sat back down in the chair by the bed. “Coran called it Floaters or something. Withdraws from going off your suppressants caused you to have an abnormally low immune system. You contracted some weird, ancient Altaen virus. Coran and Pidge are working to configure the treatment to fit human biology.” 

 

Lance blink. Of course, of _fucking_ course, he would get something as random and shitty as an ancient Altaen virus. Why was this his life? “Is it…is it bad?” Lance cursed how small his voice sounded. 

 

Keith quickly shook his head, “no, no you’re going to be fine, Lance. It’s like…like the space flu or something. As long as you drink enough fluids and rest you’ll get better.”

 

“What if the Galra attack? What if Voltron is needed?” Lance wondered, knowing he wouldn’t be able to fly Blue in his gross, sickly condition. 

 

Keith gave the worried omega a small smile, “you don’t need to worry about that. Allura wormholed us to a peaceful galaxy that’s not under the empire’s control. We’re safe here, nothing will happen.”Lance lightly nodded his head and closed his eyes, exhaustion suddenly weighing on him. He just wanted to sleep and wake up not sick. 

 

“Wait, wait don’t go to sleep yet!” Keith lightly shook Lance’s curled up form, gentle so not to upset his dizziness. Lance groaned and curled up tighter, shaking his head. “Lance, please. You need to eat something before you go back to sleep, I don’t know when you might wake back up and if you want to get better you need to eat.”

 

Lance sighed. God, why did he always have to be right?! “Fine,” he groaned before gently rolling over onto his back and sitting up, breathing heavily through his nose at the strain of such simple movements. He crossed his arms over his chest and tried to glare, but he really didn’t have the energy to be annoyed at the alpha. He was just looking out for him. It was kinda really sweet. If Lance was being honest with himself, and he was, Keith’s concern made his stomach swoon and his heart flutter. He was actually worried about him, which meant he cared about him, right? 

 

“Here, Hunk made soup. I think it's supposed to be chicken noodle, but, well…” Keith handed a bowl of purple liquid to Lance. The omega squinted at it with suspicion as he took the bowl, but all hesitation disappeared once he felt the heat of the soup through his hands. With a soft sigh, he sank into the bed and took of a sip of the soup. It…tasted like chicken noodle? 

 

“How is it? Does it taste good?” Keith awkwardly questioned as if trying to find something to talk about with the omega. Lance smiled amusingly at the alpha. At least he was trying, right? 

 

“Taste like chicken noodle,” he told him before taking another sip, closing his eyes at the warmth of the strange purple soup. He sighed through his nose and tipped his head back a little before opening his eyes and glancing at Keith, ready to strike up a conversation to fill the silence except…Keith was already looking at Lance, his face more open than Lance had ever seen before. Though it was only for a split second, Lance was almost awed at the wide eyed look on the alphas face. 

 

When he realized Lance had noticed his open stare, he cleared his throat. A soft blush spread over his cheeks and he fidgeted in his seat. Lance would laughed at him if not for his own blush that crawled up his neck. What the heck was that? Why the actual _fuck_ was the alpha looking at him so, so relaxed and open and everything he never was around Lance? Maybe he was just glad that Lance was finally being quiet for once? It was possible, what with how much he always seemed to be annoyed with the omega's big mouth.

 

“So, uh,” Keith scratched the back of his head, eyes not meeting Lance’s. Lance felt his stomach drop. Did he do something wrong _again?!_ Jesus Christ, Lance really hated himself sometimes. “How are you feeling? Do you feel a bit better?” 

 

Lance blinked at him in poorly hidden surprise. One second the alpha wasn’t meeting his eyes and the next he was asking about his health. “I’m…okay. The dizziness has passed, but I’ve still got a bit of a headache.” 

 

Keith nodded to himself, “Good, that uh, that’s good. As long as it’s not as bad as if was before you passed out.” Lance blushed at that particular memory. God, it’s so embarrassing, he passed out in the arms of the alpha that he’s hopelessly pinning for like some cliche alpha-omega romcom. And that was just what he did when he was fully conscious...sort of. Lord only knows what he did when he was half conscious! 

 

Lance quickly finished up the soup and, once done, looked around the bed trying to find a place to set the empty bowl. Keith, who must have noticed the omega searching, quickly leaned forward and gently grabbed the bowl from his hand, setting it at the table beside the bed that was too far away for Lance to reach.

 

The alpha leaned over Lance and pressed a hand against his forehead before leaning back to look at the screen at the foot of the bed detailing Lance’s vitals. The omega tried not to internally combust at the lingering feeling of Keith’s cool hand on his face. 

 

“Your fever's gone down a bit, but it’s still pretty high. You should go back to sleep and get some more rest,” Keith muttered, mostly to himself, before grabbing a cooling pouch from a drawer. He beaconed for Lance to lean back in the bed then placed in on his forehead. Lance instantly moaned at the coolness of the pouch on his heated skin. It felt like heaven and honestly, if Lance could die right now he’d be happy. With the coolness of the pouch on his skin, his head cleared a bit of his headache and he finally noticed that Keith had pulled the blanket that had bunched at his waist up to his chin. He was being so nice, Lance almost wanted to stay sick just so the alpha would be like this forever and not go back to practically ignoring his existence.

 

“Thank you,” he breathed out, tilting his head a bit to look the alpha in the eyes. “I know you don’t really…like me, or like being around me all that much and I get why, really I do. I’m just—I appreciate you helping me. So, thank you.” 

 

Keith looked pained for some reason, his eyebrows drawn up in a mix of shame and guilt. “Lance,” he choked out and Lance frowned. He hadn’t meant to upset the alpha, he just wanted to let him know how thankful he was. “Lance I don’t—you can’t really believe that I don’t like you, right?” 

 

Lance chuckled darkly, “look, I get that I’m sick an everything, but you don’t have to pretend. I know you don’t like me, it’s okay.”

 

Keith shook his head in almost panic, reaching out to grip the omega’s shoulder. “Lance, no, I don’t _not_ like you! I—I…I just…I like being around you and I like talking to you. I don’t—I’m sorry that I come across as…unfriendly towards you.”

 

Lance just kinda looked at him with wide, blue eyes. Wait so…that alpha didn’t _not_ like him? So he…liked him? “You…like me?”

 

“Yes, yes of course I do, Lance! I consider you my friend!” 

 

Lance’s heart sank. Of course. He thought of the omega as a friend, and that was it. Nothing more, nothing less. Lance swallowed down a lump in his throat and offered the alpha a strained smile that he hoped looked believable. _Well,_ he thought _, I’ll take what I can get._ If he could be friends with Keith, at least he would be around him. It’s not the relationship that he wanted, but it was what he got and he’d be damned if he messed that up. “I consider you my friend too, Keith.”

 

The alpha opened his mouth as if he wanted to say more, but Lance didn’t give him the chance when he turned away from him and closed his eyes, willing himself to drift off to sleep and not dwell on his nonexistent love life. Keith's hand finally fell from his shoulder and the apendage tingled at the lost weight. Maybe if he closed his eyes and went to sleep, he could be with Keith in his dreams. After all, sick-dreams were always pretty wild, right?


	5. Hunk to the Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is conflicted and Hunk just wants his otp to be canon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here y'all go, another chapter. Don't worry, Keith and Lance will get their heads out of their asses...eventually....probably...
> 
> You know what, at this point, I'm not even sure. I honestly have no plan for this story, I'm just going with anything that I may or may not accidentally type.
> 
> Sorry about any errors or typos, it's late and I'll probably go back and edit it in the morning.

 

Lance woke up to an unfortunately familiar throbbing behind his eyes. He blinked open his eyes and sighed in relief when no harsh brightness assaulted them, his half-conscious mind awake enough to silently thank whoever dimmed the lights while he’d been asleep. He turned his head gently to the side, remembering Keith. Remembering his strange kindness and his unknowingly hurtful words. Squinting past the pain behind his eyes, his eyes immediately flickered over to the alpha’s chair, half expecting him to still be sitting there with his usually crossed arms and furrowed eyebrows. 

 

Instead of a grumpy alpha, there sat a tray of food. Lance furrowed his eyebrows in confusion before a small sound from the other side of the bed drew his attention. He turned his head towards the sound, tray of food forgotten when the small movement jarred his brain and made the world spin. He paused, squeezing his eyes closed to dispel the dizzy-spell before gently blinking them open again. He looked again to the noise and blinked when he saw Coran.

 

“Ah, you’re awake.” The gingered altaen stood beside his bed, twirling his mustache and scrolling through Lance’s monitor, checking his vitals. “Feeling better, I hope?” 

 

The omega gently shook his head no, tearing springing to his eyes with a resounding throb punched its way through his head. He tucked his head into his pillow and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to will away the pain. God, he wished Keith was here. He wanted the alpha to still be sitting by his bed, wanted his awkward kindness and his cool hand on his forehead.

 

The omega cringed at his own thoughts. Seriously, how desperate could he get? _Pretty desperate,_ he thought as he looked back at the empty chair with the tray of food. 

 

“Has Hunk been here?” he asked, squinting at the tray thinking the beta must have brought the food because who else would have done it?

 

Coran hummed, “no, not yet. He's supposed to be here in a little bit. We’ve got a rotation set up to keep an eye on you, my boy. In fact, Keith just left not 5 minutes ago. Dropped your food off and went to go train, I believe.” 

 

Lance almost groaned about the whole babysitting thing before Coran’s full words caught up to the omega and his breath caught. Keith brought the food? Keith? His heart did an uncomfortable gallop in his chest and he fought down the blush that crept up his neck and onto his cheeks. Keith had brought him food. His omega preened at the implication behind the kind action. It’s common knowledge that the first step to mating between an alpha and an omega is the alpha proving themselves through things like providing food, shelter, and protection. While it was a rather old-school tradition, it was a tradition nonetheless and Lance’s omega seemed to think that courting was exactly what the alpha was trying at. 

 

Lance was quick to dash those thoughts away. _Bad brain,_ he thought, _Keith doesn’t like me that way_. The action could only be strictly platonic, especially based on Keith’s prior statement. The five words rang through his head, seeming to taunt the sick omega.

 

_I consider you my friend._

 

Friend. That was it, nothing less and nothing. More. Lance really had to stop getting his hopes up, because there was no way in hell that the alpha could like him with any semblance of romance. It just—as much as Lance wished that the stupid more-than-crush _thing_ he had on Keith was reciprocated, he _knew._ He knew he shouldn’t give his hopes up.

 

Except….

 

Lance swallowed. The alpha _did_ leave him food. And he _did_ treat him so kindly when he had woken up. And that _look_ he had given him, that vulnerable oh so soft look. It had to be something, right? Thinking about it now, there was a small, barely existent chance that maybe Keith sorta, kinda…liked him? Like, _liked liked_ him? 

 

But maybe not? Maybe he really did just see Lance as a friend? Maybe Lance was just thinking too into it? 

 

“Why so glum?” Coran asked, snapping the omega out of his own head and into the present. The Altaen had stopped what he was doing and gazed at Lance with a bemused look on his face. Lance shook away his Keith shaped thoughts and shifted on the bed, glaring in frustration at the annoyingly constant headache. 

 

“It’s nothing,” he appeased Coran, trying to smooth out his face so that he doesn’t think he’s glaring at him. 

 

Coran hummed, tugging at his mustache before shrugging his shoulders. “Alright,” he started, scrolling through something on the monitor, “well, Lance, I think you’d be happy to know that the serum we’re preparing is almost complete. Only one more of your earth days and you’ll be on the road to recovery! Quiznack, it looks like you’re doing better now, too! Just make sure you drink enough fluids and it’ll make this go by a just a bit faster.” 

 

Lance nodded his head, glad to hear that this nuisance of an sickness was eventually going to come to an end. Just then, the door to the infirmary slip open, making Lance jump in surprise and let out a yelp that was totally, definitely manly. Because Lance was a manly man, full of…manliness. Manly manliness. Totally. 

 

“Hey, buddy!” Hunk walked through the door with a wide smile on his face. “You’re awake! Finally!” 

 

Lance winced at the loud volume of his best friends voice combined with the grating sound of the door sliding shut, burrowing into the bed in attempts to get away from his own mind. Hunk, noticing the state of his friend, immediately stopped talking and crept over to the bed, careful not to make any overly loud sounds. Lance would have expressed how thankful he was for the beta’s consideration, but the constant headache apparently decided now was the time to jump up and punch him in the brain a couple of time, as if making sure that Lance hadn’t forgotten about it. 

 

The omega chocked down an embarrassing sound when Hunks heavy but gentle hand came to run through his hair, lightly massaging his head and ultimately soothing the shit out of him. “Aw, buddy. Is it that bad?” 

 

Lance didn’t even answer, just leaned into his friend's touch and melted into his bed as his headache lifted slightly. Everything just felt so _heavy_ , even his eyelids and he couldn’t stop them from closing. He distantly heardCoran say something, probably to Hunk, but he honestly couldn’t care less. He was just so tired, just wanted to sleep forever. 

 

“Go on to sleep, Lance,” Hunk whispered when he saw Lance struggling to keep himself conscious. “You’ll be fine, I’ll be here when you wake up.” 

 

And with that, Lance let himself sleep. 

 

* * *

 

For the third time in what felt only like a day, Lance woke up. He didn’t feel as groggy as he had last time, but it was still a struggle to open his eye and fight back the groan at the pain in his head. Blinking a couple of times to clear his vision, he struggled to lift himself up while trying to get a look around him. Coran was gone and Hunk sat in Keith’s chair, the tray of food sitting on the table beside his bed. 

 

“How…how long was I asleep?” he asked and flinched at how rough his voice sounded. Hunk looked up from the bit of circuit board he was tinkering with and smiled warmly at his friend. 

 

“Only a couple of hours.” Hunk put down his machinery and grabbed the tray of food, gently sitting it in Lance’s lap. “You should probably eat something, man.”

 

Lance nodded his head and grabbed the bowl of soup, taking a sip before grimacing at the cold taste. Nonetheless, he ate it. This wasn’t his first rodeo, he’d been sick before and he knew better than to neglect to eat. It would only prolong the torture and there was no way in _hell_ he was gonna be sick longer than he had to be. 

 

“So…” Hunk started and Lance raised an eyebrow, lowing the bowl to gaze at his friend in suspicious. He got the feeling that Hunk was about to spring something rather…uncomfortable on Lance. 

 

“So…” the omega mimicked, squinting at the beta. His headache was still going full force behind his eyes and he was tempted to just give Hunk back the bowl and go back to sleep. 

 

“Keith brought you the food, right?” _Whoop there it is,_ Lance thought. He knew it, _knew it._ Hunk just loved talking about his very much managed crush on the alpha when he wasn’t prepared. 

 

“Yeah, so?” he muttered, turning his head away from Hunk so he didn’t see the blush spreading on the blue paladin's sickly pale cheeks.

 

“‘Yeah, so’? That’s all I get?” Hunk leaned forward in his seat, playful bafflement etched onto his face. “No ‘oh Keith’’s or ‘Keith might be courting me oh my god’’s?” 

 

“No,” Lance shook his head, not even trying to hide the sadness that he knew wafted through his scent and drooped his face. “He doesn’t like me like that, Hunk. He just brought me food because he sees me as his…as his friend. That’s it.” 

 

Hunk lowly whistled and leaned back in his chair, true bafflement on his face the time. “Bro…” he looked like he wanted to say something, but couldn’t decide whether or not to just blurt it out or not. 

 

“He said so himself. He said he ‘saw me as his friend’.” Lance sighed deeply, wanting to change the subject. He was just so tired of thinking about Keith and his stupid pretty face. 

 

“Well,” Hunk started, “you know, he came to visit you while you were asleep. Said he wanted to make sure you got the food. Seemed pretty worried about you and even a little upset that you hadn’t eaten it yet. That doesn’t sound like ‘just a friend’ to me.”

 

Lance’s head whipped to Hunk so fast he thought he might pass out for a few seconds. “He—he came to see me?” Lance’s brain couldn’t physically comprehend any reason behind the alpha visiting Lance beyond the time he was supposed to do. Then again, his brain might just be too fucked up at the moment to comprehend anything right now, much less feelings and emotions. 

 

“Yep,” Hunk popped the ‘p’ at the end, grinning at the blushing, flabbergasted blue paladin. “Asked a couple questions about how you were doing and stayed for a little bit, watching you. It looked like he had come just after training, too.”

 

Lance blushed even harder, his heart skipping a couple of beats at the thought of Keith coming to see him right after his training session that usually took hours.

 

“That—that doesn’t mean he…” Lance weakly argue, but even he wasn’t oblivious enough to think that it meant nothing. Or was he? Maybe he was just thinking way too much into it. After all, friends (just. friends) checked up on their sick friends all the time, it didn’t mean it was romantic. Just…friends being friends…

 

“Lance, I can literally see you over thinking this.” Hunk cut into his thoughts, raising an eyebrow at the red-faced omega. 

 

“I’m not overthinking this. I…I _want_ it to be true, I really do. But… _ugh,”_ Lance groaned and tipped his head back. He just wanted so _badly_ for his feelings to be reciprocated. Wanted Keith to like him, to court him, to spend his fast approaching heat with him. 

 

Hunk thankfully took mercy on the struggling omega and gently patted his shoulder, smiling sympathetically at him. “Look, if it makes you feel better, I think he totally likes you.”

 

Lance blinked at his best friend. “Really?” 

 

“Yep. I think he’s head over heels for you but just doesn’t know how to actually express his feelings. Like you.” Hunk gently grabbed the now empty bowl from Lance’s hands and placed it on the table and grabbed a water pouch. “Here, drink up.”

 

Lance took the pouch automatically, mind still processing Hunk’s words as sucked up the water, not realizing how thirsty he was until the first sip. “You…you really think he likes me? Like, _like likes_ me?” 

 

Hunk smiled gently at his friend and took the empty water pouch, placing it in the empty bowl. “Yeah, I do. But you know what? You should just focus on getting better right now and not worry about Keith, because, and I’m being honest here, you look absolutely _terrible_. And anyway, I’m sure everything will work itself out, okay?”

 

Lance didn’t say anything, just glared down at his hands. His head was hurting again and every time he moved his eyes, his vision tilted and the world spun. He felt both hot and cold at the same time, both tired and awake. Even after drinking the water, his throat still itched with the urge to cough. He really did feel like shit.

 

“Lance?” Hunk probed and Lance grumbled out something intelligible before leaning back and closing his eyes, trying to clear his head of the sickly haze that had fallen over his mind. 

 

“I don’t feel good, Hunk,” he whined, pouting up at his friend. Hunk’s eyes flickered with worry before he schooled his face and rolled his eyes playfully. 

 

“Of course you don’t, buddy. You got the space flu.” 

 

“Fuck the space flu.” 

 

Hunk chuckled at Lance’s complaining. “Yeah, fuck the space flu”


	6. Of gross medicine and platonic cuddles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is slowly getting worse, but do not fear, gross medicine is here!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kay so not my best work but whatevs. Heres a dramatic reaction to gross medicine and PLATONIC PLANCE CUDDLES WOOT WOOT  
> Also my boi Lancey Lance gets a little deep here so brace yourself for a small dash of langst

Lance wasn’t getting better. Nope, not by a long shot. His head seemed to be getting even worse with every second that passed and he could barely turn his head without wanting to vomit from the dizziness. He wasn’t stupid, he knew that this was…pretty bad. In the off chance that he was awake when Coran came to check on him, he got to see the altaen’s worried face poorly masked behind the lies he told of how the omega was ‘getting better’. He didn’t necessarily blame him for lying about his health, he just wished Coran would be truthful because, frankly, it was a bit insulting to think that he actually thought Lance believed him. 

 

Aside from the impending death that Lance dramatically felt was near, he was getting tired of lying in this infirmary with so many people worrying about him. Hell, he was getting tired of being sick in general. His head constantly throbbed to the point where it hurt just to open his eyes and look around, so he settled himself to burying underneath the many blankets Hunk had brought for him. He had a hunch that Hunk had taken them from the other paladin's rooms when, after an experimental whiff, he had immediately burrowed into the multitude of scents, surrounding himself with the blankets when the combined smell of all the paladins eased his headache and calmed him enough to slip in and out of sleep.

 

Hunk stayed with him for the most part, Coran, Allura, and even Shiro coming and going to both check on his vitals and keep Hunk company in the moments when the sick omega was asleep. Keith came in sometimes too, or so he’d been told. It was always when he was asleep, so it’s not like Lance could get some sort of comfort from the alpha’s presence. Sometimes, he would catch a glimpse of him leaving, or wake up to the faint memory of a cold hand against his head that he wasn’t entirely sure was real or just a dream. It was so, _so_ frustrating. Keith said they were friends, right? So why the hell was he being so—so _secretive_? It made no sense and to Lance’s borderline delirious mind it was almost insulting. 

 

That being said, Lance was too tired and sick to notice when Pidge came trudging into the room after a practically one-sided conversation with Hunk, the omega barely having enough energy to keep his mouth open for his grunts and one-worded answers. It’s just—his head hurt so _bad._ It felt like it was getting worse. Always throbbing, always painful. 

 

The small beta dragged her feet over to Lance’s bedside, Coran coming through the door behind her with a vial of gray liquid. The omega cracked an eye open just to see her tired, worried face before closing them again. He heard Hunk say a small greeting for the newly arrived people, but Lance was honestly barely paying attention. _God,_ it was hot. Or was it cold? Shivers frantically racked his body and yet, Lance felt like he was burning alive. 

 

Pidge yawned, rubbing her eyes under her glasses. “We finished it,” she said, gesturing to Coran and the vial of liquid. 

 

Hunk perked up, eyes alight with relief. “It’s done?” he asked, “the serum?”

 

“Yep.” Pidge grabbed the monitor by his bedside and tapped a few things while Coran sat at the edge of Lance’s bed, pressing a hand against his forehead before smiling tightly at the omega.

 

“How are you doing, my boy?” he inquired and Lance just groaned. He wanted to turn his body away from the ginger to get away from his loud voice but knew that any movement like that would have him seeing a world tipping and turning rather unpleasant like. 

 

Coran hummed before unscrewing the lid to the vial. “Open up.” 

 

Lance parted his lips. A small part of him worried about putting some strange liquid into his body, but a much larger, desperate part of him just wanted his head to stop pounding. Coran gently grabbed his chin with his gloved hand and tipped the liquid into his mouth. The taste hit him instantly and he tried to jerk away, disgust curling his lips. Coran poured only a quarter of the liquid down his throat before quickly jerking the vial away and clamping the omega’s mouth closed. Lance, more awake now than he had been for ages, thrashed against the altaens hand, desperate to throw up the liquid. The taste—oh, _god_ it was _awful._ It felt like fire as it made its way down his throat, burning his tongue and tinging his gums all the while leaving the distinct aftertaste of garbage in its wake. Lance had to seriously fight back the tell-tale wetness at the back of his throat, swallowing down the dry heave that threatened to upchuck what little he had in his stomach. 

 

“Come on, Lance. Swallow it all down,” Coran encouraged, hand still clamping his mouth shut to ensure that he did in fact down all of it. Lance felt a prickle of half-felt irritating as he swallowed the disgusting shit, not able to help a shudder of disgust. He violently jerks away from the altaen, haphazardly glaring at nothing before collapsing on his bed ungracefully, any fight leaving him as the godawful taste physically shook him to his core. 

 

Voices murmured above him, but he paid them no mind as he curled up, desperately wishing for his head to stop its incessant pounding. He just—he wanted this to _end_. Everything hurt; his head _hurt._ He felt like a wet dog as waves of shudders racked his frame, the liquid burning in his stomach, making him both feel heavy and lightheaded at the same time.

 

A weight slightly dipped the bed and suddenly the smell of Pidge filled his nose. “I’ll take next watch and make sure he doesn’t develop some unforeseen side effects. You go get some food, Hunk,” he heard from somewhere above him before his blanket was lifted and suddenly there she was, her skinny arms coming around his shoulders to hold him, albeit a bit awkwardly, fingers gently running through his hair. Lance instantly latched onto her, pressing his face against her stomach and curling around her small form. She was warm, _so_ warm. It felt like some weight had been lifted as he breathed in her scent and shivered around her small body, acutely aware of her soothing hand in his hair before he was drifting again, seeing nothing but black emptiness. 

 

* * *

 

When Lance opened his eyes, his mind felt more clear than it had in hours. Don’t get him wrong, his head was still pounding, but it was…better. Not quite good, but just better. His eyes immediately met green fabric and he lifted his head, disgustingly aware of how heavy it felt and how dirty his hair must be. Let’s not even get started on how oily his face probably was, having not washed it in the amount of time he’d been in the infirmary. 

 

The light tapping sounds of fingers against a keyboard brought his attention to Pidge, who was twisted uncomfortably to both accommodate the omega and work on her computer. They were both lying in the bed with Lance loosely curled around her and her shoulders and arms twisting to one side to type at her computer. A small part of him thought he should probably be embarrassed, but it felt…right. Curling around his pack mate and basking in the comfort of the beta’s scent…so warm…so homey. Like his bed at home in Cuba. He misses his bed. And his sister. And his brothers. And his mom and dad. _Ugh,_ he thought, _sick me is sad me._ He blinked at the blue glow of her computer then groaned, turning his face back to her side. 

 

The sound of her fingers against the keyboard stopped. “Lance?” she asked, gently closing the computer and untwisting her body from its position to fully face the sick paladin. 

 

Lance just shook his head and tightened his arms around her midsection. She said nothing, but he could feel her eyes on him, burning holes in the back of his head. The green paladin sighed, pushing her hand into his dirty hair and hesitantly massaging his head. He sank into the touch, his head clear enough for his heart to be struck with the same scenes of homesickness that often plagued him at unfortunate times. He could remember times where his older sister, Veronica, would let him into her bed in the middle of the night when childish fears got the better of him. She would talk to him until he calmed down, give him a hug and call him a dweeb but ultimately let him stay. She was a lot like Pidge, in a way. Both awkward but so, _so_ willing to help. 

 

“Hey, Lance,” Pidge lightly shook his shoulder and he lifted his head to meet her eyes. Her concern was apparent and Lance just wished he’d stop seeing people look at him like that. He was just sick, it’s not like he was going to die or something. “How are you feeling? The serum was meant to act as a sort of anti-inflammatory so your headache should be better, but we weren’t really sure that it would work.” 

 

Lance shrugged his shoulders, half aware of the pain in his head. “It’s bearable. Better than it was before.”

 

“And the dizziness?”

 

Lance darted his eyes around the room to test and see if he got dizzy. The room tilted a little as if he were shaking his head to and fro, but other than that it wasn’t bad. “Like the headache. Still there, but better.” 

 

Pidge nodded her head and pushed her glasses up her nose. “By the way your improving, I’d say you’ll probably need three or four more douses of that serum to completely clear up the infection.” 

 

Lance dramatically shivered in disgust. Three or four more times?! Nope, no, no not again, no sir. Lance would rather have fucking Zarkon sit on him than take that gross, evil, devil liquid again. Just the memory of it makes him want to gag, _ugh_. 

 

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Don’t be such a baby, Lance. Just suck it up and take the medicine when you need to.” 

 

He wrinkled his nose and watched as Pidge opened up her computer again and rapidly typed out lines of code he didn’t understand. He tightened his grip on the beta’s form and sighed. “Hey Pidge?” he asked, remembering how miserable he had been before the small beta had climbed into the bed with him, apparently unafraid to contract to hellish sickness from him.

 

When the girl let out a hum of acknowledgment, he continued; “thanks for, you know…letting me cuddle you. I really needed it.”

 

Yet again, her fingers stopped on the keyboard. “Don’t worry about it, Lance. Matt used to do it all the time when he was sick so I get it, really.” 

 

“You know…” he started, “you remind me of my big sister, Veronica.” Veronica, who was on earth. Veronica, who he missed so much that it hurt. His heart sank at the thought of her, of his entire family. So many questions filtered through his head 24/7 that it was almost hard to think of anything else. What were they doing right now? Did they miss him? Did they think he was dead? Did Veronica get that scholarship she was going after? Did Louis pass 11th grade? Is little Marco still getting into fights with that bully Angelo? So many questions, yet no answers. 

 

“How so?” Pidge asked, bringing Lance out of his own thoughts. He weakly chuckled, not risking a full laugh that might jar his headache out of it’s tamed state and back into its ‘I hate lance and want his brain to suffer’ state. 

 

“Well, you both like computers and robots and nerdy stuff like that.” Pidge lightly nudged him with a scoff, but let him continue. “And you’re both kinda awkward and a little anti-social, but it’s okay cause you’re really loving and really try to help those around you.” 

 

“Sounds like we’d get along then,” Pidge said after a couple of silent seconds. “I can’t wait to meet her.” 

 

Lance’s lower lip wobbled a bit at the implication of them all living long enough for Pidge to meet his sister, a lump forming in his throat as tears prickled in his eyes. He really did want his team in space to meet his family in Cuba. Every day he prayed that they’d live long enough in this war to at least visit earth and introduce his family to the team. For his sister to go on long spews of info about tech stuff with Pidge and Hunk and for his dad to swap stories with Shiro and for Keith to meet his mom and, and for his mom to see what a great alpha Lance had fallen for.

 

“I can’t wait for you to meet her too,” Lance chuckled wetly, a couple tears slipping down his face. He curled back around Pidge and listened to her fingers against the keyboard of her computer, closing his eyes and just resting, not sleeping yet, just enjoying the silent company of the young paladin. He really did miss his family, but these people right here? These wonderful, crazy people he called his teammates? They were his family too, and if these past days of their concern and constant caring for him told him anything, it was that he was they’re family too.


	7. boom clap the sound of Keith's heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is stubborn. Keith tries (and succeeds) at bonding with Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all asked for some klance, so here ya go! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, I think it's my second longest? I don't know, but enjoy!
> 
> also thanks for all the comments and kudos! Y'all're so nice!!

 

“Come on, Lance. Just take the medicine.” Coran held up the vial to Lance’s stubbornly closed lips, eye twitching with the beginnings of frustrations. The Altean wiggle the liquid in front of his face, trying in vain to entice the omega to just drink the medicine. _Two can play at that game,_ Lance thought and crosses his arms over his chest, pouting like a child as he glared at the vial. 

 

“I’m getting better,” he argued, “I don’t need it.” 

 

Pidge facepalmed in the background. “Lance, come on! You _need_ the medicine!”

 

Lance shook his head, “I hate that stuff!” he huffed, “it tastes awful and almost made me vomit last time!” 

 

“Come on, man. Don’t you want to get better?” Hunk asked from his seat beside Lance’s bed, ever so patient in the omega’s stubborn will to not let the disgusting liquid so much as touch his lips. He just—he didn’t _really_ need it! He was getting better, so why make him take something that’ll just make him feel horrible? 

 

The infirmary door swished open and in walked Shiro…who immediately backpedaled after seeing Lance’s poor attempt at intimidating a vial of medicine and the building frustration of everyone else in the room. “What’s going on in here?” he hesitantly asked, wary but willing to get in the middle of…whatever was going on. 

 

“Lance won’t take the medicine!” Pidge screeched, throwing her hands up in the air with frustration.

 

“I don’t need it! I’m getting better!” Lance tried to shout back, but a throbbing in his head cut him off mid-sentence, making him wince. 

 

Shiro’s concerned gaze was almost too much for the blue paladin and he had to look away. Helplessness squeezed his chest and he glowered at the ground. He had been stuck in this godforsaken room for too damn long and he wanted out, sure, but he was sick and tired of that concerned look everyone kept giving him. He was getting better! His headache had gone down and he could sit up in bed without wanting to vomit and pass out at the same time, which Lance definitely counted as a win. 

 

“Lance,” oh god, he was doing the Disappointed Dad Stare™. “Maybe you should take the medicine. Just in case.” 

 

Shiro’s reasoning did little to sway Lance’s feeling on the matter. He didn’t _need_ to take it! He just wanted to go back to his room, take a shower, and spend some time with Blue! Was that too much to ask? Everyone’s disappointed, frustrated stares were making him sink into the bed. At this point, he doubted it could get any worse.

 

The doors slid open again and yep…it just got worse. Keith walked in, raising an eyebrow at the amount of tension in the room. 

 

“Oh thank god you’re here, maybe _you_ can talk some sense into him!” Pidge exclaimed and Keith narrowed his eyes at Lance, who leveled him with his own stare. Their eyes met and Lance inwardly cursed. _Shit, he’s got pretty eyes._ How was that even allowed? 

 

“What’s happening?” the alpha asked, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the wall.

 

Hunk wisely spoke up before Pidge or Coran could. “Lance doesn’t think he needs to take the medicine again even though he definitely does.” 

 

“How many times do I have to tell you people, I’ll be fine. I don’t need any more of that…that _devil liquid,_ ” Lance defended himself, cursing his own head for thinking now, of all moments, was the perfect time to start belly flopping on his brain. 

 

Keith paused a moment before his eyes met Lance’s again, but this time with a certain spark of…something in them that made Lance narrow his own eyes in suspicion. He was obviously planning something. What, Lance didn’t know. All he knew was that the building dread in his stomach wasn’t for nothing. “What happens if he doesn’t take it?” Keith asked Coran. 

 

“Well,” the Altean seemed to be in thought for a moment. “it’s possible that this moment of clarity is temporary, at best. It would be wise to give Lance another dose or two of the serum just to make his recovery more withstanding, help build up his white blood cell count to fight against the infection instead of relying on the serum itself.”

 

Keith hummed in thought, “and how much does he need to take?” Wait, what?

 

“Around a quarter of what’s in the vial.” 

 

Lance didn’t even have time to think more into Keith’s questions before the alpha was moving, pushing himself off the wall and grabbing the vial of medicine from Coran’s hand. Lance’s heart skipped a beat, either in fear or something else he didn’t know. _Shit, wait!_ He thought, barely opening his mouth in protest before Keith was upon him, holding the vial to his lips and gently but sternly grabbing his jaw to hold him from jerking away. 

 

Out of his peripheral vision, Lance saw Coran jump away from the scene and Hunk half rise from his seat, ready to intervene if necessary. “ _N_ —” he tried to struggle away from the red paladin, but faltered when the jarring movement became too much for his head. He slouched a little, squeezing his eyes shut to quickly dispel the dizziness before snapping them open to meet Keith’s eyes. The fiery gaze had him locked, unable to look away as the alpha cocked an eyebrow and leaned forward even more. He was close…so close. Just a few inches closer and who knows what could happen. 

 

“Drink. The. Medicine,” he articulated and Lance gulped, owlishly blinking up at him, momentarily dazed with the knowledge that this was probably the closest he’d ever gotten to the alpha while conscious. Movement behind Keith darted Lance’s eyes to Shiro, who cautiously stepped forward with his concerned gaze flickered back and forth between the two paladins. Keith lightly tightened his grip on the omega’s jaw and turned his head gently back to focus on him. “Lance,” Keith almost whispered and Lance’s eyes snapped back to meets the alpha’s in front of him. A calloused thumb barely moved against his cheek and the omega’s heart stopped before quickly starting back up faster, beating out a rhythm akin to the beat of hooves. _Jesus Christ,_ he thought, eyes fluttering against his will when Keith did it again, gently moving his thump up and down and up and down against his soft cheek, just minuscule movement that unfortunately made his heart pound. _He’s doing this on purpose, that little shit._

 

Keith pressed the vial against his lips a little harder. 

 

“Just drink it,” he demanded, then softly added, “please.” 

 

Lance wanted to whine, to whimper, to argue and fight against the manhandling, but something in him just….collapsed. Exhaustion over the argument weighted down on him and he hesitantly conceded, slightly parting his lips to allow the liquid passage into his mouth. The pleased look on Keith’s face almost made up for the awful taste the instantly assaulted him. 

 

He whined, trying and failed to hold back a gag. Keith clamped his mouth closed, his calloused fingers gentle against his face as he insured the omega swallowed it all. Much like last time, Lance shuttered, the taste burning down his throat. _Ew ew ew ew ew,_ he groaned in his mind, face wrinkling up in disgust. 

 

“There you go,” Keith whispered as he removed his hand, a little awkwardly rubbing his back in some half thought attempt at comforting the suffering omega. “It’s going to be all okay.”

 

Lance groaned, sticking his tongue out in disgust. “It’s so gross,” he cringed, wondering how hard it would be to find some sandpaper to scrub the taste off of his tongue. Keith straightened up with a small chuckle, looking more than a little pleased with himself. 

 

“Well,” Coran started, looking a little uncomfortable. He tweaked his mustache and nodded his head. “Now that that’s over, I’d better get back to the Princess.” 

 

“Right, same,” Shiro added, backing out of the room to follow Coran. “I’d better, you know, go see Allura on some, uh, important events.” He gave Keith a hard, meaningful look that Lance completely missed. Keith blushed, rubbing his neck and halfheartedly glaring at the black paladin. Shiro just arched an eyebrow and gestured with his eyes to the oblivious omega, then back to Keith. He then grabbed Pidge by the back of her shirt and began dragging her out of the room.

 

“Pidge, I also need your help with something,” he said. The girl, reading the scene with a gleam in her eyes and a smirk on her lips, wiggled her eyebrows at Keith. 

 

“Okay, bye Lance, bye Keith!” 

 

Hunk, bless his soul, completely understood what his friends were up too and sighed. _Way to be subtle, guys._ He turned to Keith, who looked frozen, his eye pleading with Hunk not to leave him with his feelings. Hunk just smiled. _If you can’t beat them, join them_. He patted Lance gently on the back after standing from his seat. “Get some rest, Lance. And Keith, you’re good to watch him right?” 

 

Keith opened his mouth, most likely to say _hell no, don’t leave me with him I can’t handle my emotion,_ but thought better of it when Hunk gave him a meaningful look. “Yeah, I’ll…keep him company.”

 

“Bye Hunk,” Lance grimaced as the Beta walked away, still upset over the taste. He really didn’t understand why everyone left so suddenly, but he supposed they had better things to do than watch him gag and complain about some medicine. 

 

“So…” Keith started, gingerly sitting in the seat that, just moments before, was occupied by Hunk. “How are you feeling?” Lance blinked at the Alpha, aware of how…awkward he was being. Was he that uncomfortable with the omega or was he just uncomfortable with small talk in general? 

 

“I’m feeling better. Still didn’t think I needed the medicine, though,” he said, low-key hoping Keith would get the shade he was playfully throwing at him. 

 

The alpha raised an eyebrow. “Yeah well, I—we’re not taking any chances. We need you healthy.” 

 

Lance ducked his head a little, familiar feelings of helplessness rising in his chest. Him being sick was just stopping Voltron from doing meaningful work, so it was to be expected that Keith had that as his main concern. It only made sense. 

 

Keith backpedaled, realizing he must have said something wrong if the omega looked so dejected. A silence rang for a few seconds, Lance fiddling with his fingers and Keith grasping for something to say.

 

“So…” he started and Lance looked up, eyes meeting for a moment before they both looked away, each not noticing the small blush that dusted the other's cheeks. Keith cleared his throat, shifting a little in his seat. “So,” he tried again, “what, uh…what’s your favorite color?” 

 

_Wait, what?_ Lance blinked in surprise, eyes alight with amusement as Keith looked to the side, scratching his head and hoping the other either didn’t notice his blush or was choosing not to acknowledge it. Lance noticed. 

 

“Red,” he admitted after a second, still taken aback by the question and the embarrassed blush on the alphas cheeks. _Is this Keith’s version of small talk?_ If so, he really needed to work on it…but it _was_ kinda adorable, watching him grasp for words. 

 

“Really?” Keith asked, surprised by the answer. He was honestly expecting something else, like blue because of his lion.

 

“Yep.” Lance didn’t tell Keith that it was his favorite color solely because of him and how good the alpha looked in the red armor. “What’s yours?” 

 

Keith must not have been expecting Lance to ask. “What?”

 

“Your favorite color. I told you mine, now you tell me yours.”

 

Keith paused before answering, as if deciding what to say. “It’s actually blue.” 

 

Lance perked up, a blush crawling across his cheeks. “Blue? Why?” 

 

Keith looked away, rubbing his neck. The alpha had slowly relaxed from his tense position in the chair which Lance felt was a small victory on his part. “It, uh, reminds me of the color of the sky back home.” 

 

Lance’s heart swooned and he practically melting into a puddle on the bed. How…how was he so, so _cute?_ Who gave him the right? 

 

“That’s a good reason,” Lance said with a laugh, feeling himself relax now that Keith had relaxed. “Better than mine, that's for sure.”

 

“Well, why do you like red?” Keith asked, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms over his chest which he really, really needed to stop doing because it was making Lance weak at the knees and he wasn’t even standing. 

 

“No real reason. I just think it’s a pretty color,” the omega lied on the spot, hoping it didn’t sound to rushed. They fell into another silence, this one not so much awkward as it was both of them anxiously waiting for the other to speak.

 

Keith cleared his throat, uncrossing his arms to rest them in his lap. “What, uh, what’s your favorite…animal?” 

 

As soon as the omega processed the question, a snorting giggle escaped his mouth. Keith was seriously trying the whole small talk thing, wasn’t he? Lance gently sat himself up fully on the bed, slowly turning his body to give the alpha all of his attention. He twisted his legs to sit crisscross, the blanket pooled in his lap as he smiled at Keith. He liked this, the whole talking civilly thing. No arguing, no bickering. Just…small talk. He wished they did this before, when he wasn’t sick and handicapped to a bed.

 

“My favorite animal? Let's see,” he paused to think, “I feel like the cliché answer would be a lion cause, you know, Voltron and all that, but I think my favorite animals are dogs.” 

 

Keith had a small smile on his face, as if he was enjoying this as much as Lance. “A dog? Why?”

 

Lance sighed nostalgically, thinking back to home and his family and his pups. “I’ve got three at home waiting for me.”

 

“I didn’t know you had dogs?” Keith asked, confused as to why he hadn’t mentioned it before.

 

“Yep!” Lance smiled, happy to talk about his babies. “Blanco, Danté, and Angel. Big, mean-looking Dobermans, but they’re my babies, really. Sweetest things you’ll ever meet. I found them out in the rain one night when they were around four weeks old. Some douche bag had tried to crop their ears too young and tossed them out when it got too much to handle, so I took them in, nursed them to health, and raised them.”

 

“Really? That’s…actually pretty cool. I could see you with Dobermans.” Keith looked, impressed, eyes sparkling with the conversation. “I’m not really a dog person. Never had one and never really…interacted with one, I guess?”

 

Lance froze, eyes comically wide with horror. “Wait,” he started, “wait, wait, wait. Are you telling me you’ve never met a dog? Never pet a dog? Had one lick your hand? Nothing?!” 

 

Keith shook his head. “I’ve seen them in passing, but I never really approached one before.” 

 

Lance couldn’t believe was he was hearing. “You haven’t _lived_ until you’ve pet a dog. They’re like, the happiest things in the world. You know what?” Lance beamed at the alpha. “When we win this war, you’re gonna met my pups. They’d love you, hell, they love everyone!” 

 

Keith’s heart hammered with the implication. Lance wanted him to meet important people in his life? Sure, they were dogs, but Lance himself said that they were his _babies._ Even if it was just a weird thing dog owners said, it still carried a lot of weight, for an omega to make future plans for an alpha to meet and interact with those close to the omega. 

 

“Yeah,” Keith tried to say calmly, but felt like he failed horribly by how breathy his voice was. “When we win the war, I’ll meet your dogs.” 

 

Lance smiled brightly at him.He wanted to take the alpha places and show him his home, where he grew up, his roots. Let him meet his mama and papa and brothers and sister. He was sure they would all get along. Sure, Keith might be a little…standoffish at first, as everyone was when they met his entire family, but Lance would see him quickly warming up to his mama’s corny jokes and Louis’s suaveness, Marco’s clinginess, and Veronica’s smart-ass attitude. 

 

“I can’t wait to show you Cuba. To show all of you Cuba. It’s going to be so much fun, I can take you to the beach, and take you swimming to the coral reefs, and there are these cool cliffs overlooking the ocean behind my house that I could take you and see,” Lance sighed wistfully before paused, a flicker of doubt making his purse his lips. “That is, if you want to, you know, see it. I don’t mind if you don’t, it’s not really that big of a deal.”

 

Keith quickly went to reassure the omega, wondering how the hell he could possibly think that he wouldn’t want to see Lance’s home. “No, no no I want to see it! I would _love_ to see it with…you,” Keith almost lost his train of thought when Lance’s eyes lit up, his lips twisting into a smile that had Keith’s heart stuttering. His cheeks were dusked pink, so unlike the pallor that came with his sickness. He was just so, so—

 

_Beautiful._

 

Lance jerked back, his eyes widening as the dusted pink quickly darkened into a glaring red, the blush traveling to the tips of his ears and down his neck. Keith’s voice rang in his ear, the single word that had the omega’s heart pounding.“W-what?”

 

_Shit._

 

He said it out loud. He—he _actually_ did that. How stupid was he?! Keith felt his face heat up and he cursed himself. “I-I mean that uh…Cuba! I bet it’s beautiful in Cuba.” God, he was an idiot. 

 

Meanwhile, Lance couldn’t hide his giddy grin. He may be oblivious at times, but he was no idiot. Keith had _definitely_ just called him beautiful. Him, beautiful! Was he sure he wasn’t in some feverish hallucination or dream brought about by his illness? Because this-this was just too good to be true. Keith was still a stuttering mess, muttering things about Cuba while looking everywhere _but_ Lance. 

 

“No, I think you just called me beautiful.” Lance was going to milk this. After all, he wouldn’t be Lance McClain is he didn’t!

 

Keith looked about ready to combust, glaring at the ground as his face reddened. “I-I…was just…” 

 

“Mmhmm,” Lance hummed, leaning forward and surpassing his own laughter. “Don’t try and deny it. You totally think I’m cute.” 

 

Keith’s eyes looked around the room frantically, as if trying to find an escape route before he accidentally locked his eyes with the playfully smug omega’s and couldn’t pull them away. He couldn’t stop his eyes from searching, praying that he wasn’t reading this situation wrong. “Maybe…maybe you’re right.” 

 

It was worth everything when Keith watched Lance quickly redden as he fully comprehended his words, eyes widening and lips parting in surprise, practically breathless. It was one thing for him to say it by accident, but now?

 

“You…you really think I’m cute? Even when I’m all g-gross and sick?” Lance was trying for playful but it turned too tentative to pass as anything but insecurity, bashful eyes flickering from his hands in his lap to Keith. Was this really happening? Was this—was this _real?_

 

Keith couldn’t take his eyes off the blue paladin, not letting himself move, even breath. “I think you’re beauti—” 

 

Alarms blared, making both paladins jump in there seats. The Castle quaked all around them and knocked Keith from out of his chair, a booming rumble coming from somewhere outside.

 

“ _Paladins, get to your Lions! We are under attack, I repeat, get to your lions!”_ Allura’s voice crackled through the coms and both boys paled. 

 

_Shit._


	8. Lets go down swinging

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith's gotta protect and Lance has a heart to heart with a certain stubborn lion (it's the blue one).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol sorry if this took longer than usual, I had a couple of exams I had to study for so my schedule was fucking packed, my dudes. But better late than never, right? So, here's some cute Keith and Lance plus an interaction between Lance and his lion that I seriously didn't plan to go the way it did but like i'm tired so whatever

Keith was the first to spring into action. He jumped up from where he’d fallen to the floor with eyes wide with panic, rushed toward Lance and frantically over the omega to make sure he hadn’t been hurt when the castle shook. The alarms blared overhead and the Castle rocked again. Lance darted a hand out to take hold of the bedpost, keeping himself from jostling. Keith, having expected the rocking, braced himself again the chair and the bed, eyes locked on Lance as the ship shook. 

 

When it died down, Lance blinked to clear his eyes of lingering dizziness before swinging his legs over the bed, rising to run out the door to Blue’s hanger. He lifted himself using the bed as leverage, cursing the dizziness that assaulted his vision the moment he’d started moving. 

 

“Lance, no, shit what are you—“

 

The castle boomed for a third time, louder and longer and much, much more violently, the noise of it drowning out Keith’s remaining words. Lance was immediately tossed off his feet, his head painfully meeting the table next to his bed before he was falling, falling, falling…and then he wasn’t. Keith was there. The alpha wrapped his arms around the omega, cushioning the hard fall to the floor with his own body before immediately flipping them over, pressing Lance into the floor to keep him steady as the castle tilted back and forth to the flow of whatever was shooting at it. Lance’s head ached from the nasty hit he’d taken on his fall, disgruntled in knowing that it was _definitely_ going to leave a bruise. His heart pounded in his chest, fear squeezing his eyes closed as he waited for it to end, desperation crawling higher each second that it lasted. 

 

“Lance!” he heard and suddenly it stopped. Everything stilled and the coolness of hands—Keith’s hands—on his face brought him to crack open his eyes. The alpha hovered above him, panic clearly written on his face as he practically cradled the omega cheeks with both hands, eyes flickering and searching all over his face as if searching for any sign of pain. 

 

“Are you okay? You hit your head, let me see it,” he tilted Lance’s head down to examine the bruise that was already forming at the corner of his forehead.

 

Lance weakly tried to shake him off, desperate to get up and help in any way he could, whether it be through his lion or on the bridge, helping Coran and Allura. “I’m fine,” he weakly whispered, eyes fluttering as black spots danced around his vision. 

 

Above them, the intercoms came to like again. “ _Keith, please! Get to your lion!”_

 

Keith didn’t move, kneeling stagnant above him with no response to Allura’s command. He just held Lance’s head in his hands, eyes still searching over the Omega’s face to reassure himself that Lance was here, in his arms, _safe._

 

“Stay here, Lance,” he started and Lance immediately tried to protest. Like hell he was just going to sit in the infirmary alone! Not while his friends-not while _Keith_ was out there risking his life! 

 

Keith immediately shushed Lance’s protest, shaking his head fiercely. His grip on Lance’s head tightened momentarily. “Please, Lance, _please._ Stay. Here. You can’t fight, you’re too sick. You’ll just end up getting hurt even more.”

 

Lance tried to huff indignantly, but it quickly turned into a soft groan of pain. Everything, and he meant _everything,_ ached from the sudden motion and his heart pounded in rhythm with the frantic beat of his heart. He wanted so badly to deny Keith’s words, to stand without a problem and join the fight…but he knew better. Hell, he could barely stand, much less pilot a lion. He’d be no use to the fight…but still…Lance weakly shook his head. “No,” he muttered out, “don’t leave me.” It felt pathetic to ask, but Lance was…he was _scared._ He had no idea what was going on, he was sick, his alp— _Keith_ was about to put himself in danger and Lance couldn’t do _anything_ to help him. All he knew—all his _omega_ knew was that Keith being here, with him, meant Keith would be safe and by extension, Lance himself would be safe.

 

Keith looked like he was physically hurt by Lance’s words. “Lance, _please._ Just—stay here, I promise I’ll be back, I _promise._ But I can’t—I can’t let you get hurt, do you understand? Not while you’re sick like this.” 

 

Lance did understand. He really did. So he hesitantly nodded his head and Keith—Keith did something entirely unexpected. Something that, even in Lance’s fear, made his heart flip in his chest. Keith’s soft, warm lips met Lance’s forehead. A quickly, insignificant kiss on the forehead, and yet it made a shiver go up Lance’s spine. 

 

“I promise,” Keith said one last time before he was gone, running out the door and leaving a shell-shocked, terrified, blushing Omega still lying on the floor, worrying and wondering all at the same time. 

 

* * *

 

 

Keith was terrified. His heart pounded in his chest, his palms sweaty as he white-knuckled the controls of Red. In front of him stood an entire fleet of Galra ships, each of them firing their weapons at the castle. At _Lance._

 

Allura’s voice crackled to life over the comms. “ _You need to get these cruisers off the Castle! I don’t know how much more our shields can withstand of this!”_

 

_“Were on it, Princess!”_ Shiro reassured the Princess before addressing the three other paladins. “ _You heard the princess, we need to get rid of as many cruisers as we can!”_

 

The team voiced their affirmations before spurring their Lions into action, each of them aiming to wipe out as many Galra as possible. Keith moved with a deadly precision, jumping from ship to ship and destroying each one. And yet, it never felt like it was enough. They were vastly outnumbered, their entire equilibrium tipped off balanced without their fifth paladin fighting with them. The option for Voltron was completely off the table and they desperately needed it. 

 

Keith growled under his breath as galra after galra came at him, a mix of desperation and frustration grating on his nerves. “How did they even find us?!” he snarled, jerking his lion to maneuver away from an enemy ship that had gotten too close. “I thought you said this solar system was untouched by the empire!!”

 

“ _They must have tracked us here somehow. Maybe our inactivity due to Lance’s sickness raised suspicions, I don’t know!”_ stressed Allura, clearly exasperated by their situation. Keith gritted his teeth, familiar aggravation bubbling up in him. At this point, the amount of galra ships surrounding them was annoying.

 

“ _Our shields are down to 15%! Coran, give me an option, any option!”_ Allura shouted through the comms. 

 

Coran was quick to answer. “ _I can reroute unnecessary power supplies and channel them into the strength of our shields, but…”_

 

Keith felt his eyebrows twitch as Red jerked from a small hit to her flank. “But what?! Just do it!” he yelled, shooting down the cruiser that nicked him.

 

Pidge, having understood the gravity of the possible decision, cut into the conversation. “ _Keith, if Coran does that then it’ll reconfigure the shield to reinforce around more necessary areas, like the bridge. Rerouting the power supplies will leave certain parts of the castle’s shield vulnerable.”_

 

Keith’s stomach dropped with the realization. “The infirmary,” he whispered. “ _Lance_.”

 

* * *

 

 

Lance fully intended to stay in the infirmary. He really did. But after the seventh hit to the castle that had him tumbling around like a sack of potatoes, he got frustrated. That and the fact that to lights began to flicker, which meant only one thing. The shields were taking up a _lot_ of energy, meaning that the shields overall integrity was quickly diminishing. 

 

So, like the proper idiot he was, Lance left the infirmary. Not before swiping his helmet, which laid on top of his armor that had been stacked up in the corner of the infirmary, not moved since it was taken off his unconscious body. Another blast shook the castle, Lance leaning heavily on the wall to support himself. When the violent noise of the explosion died down, he steeled himself. Pushing the looming headache and annoying dizziness to the back of his mind, he stumbled out of the infirmary, hugging close to the left wall to steady himself. He held the helmet in a vice grip, swallowing down his nausea as he inched closer and closer to Blues hanger.

 

His heart pounded in his ears from the sheer force of moving his lethargic body. As he approached the large doors leading into the hangar, his vision began to blur and his entire body seized up as if readying itself for the impending blackout that was sure to overcome him if he didn’t get to Blue and her soothing presence soon. A whimper escaped him, and he squeezed his eyes closed, willing away spots that danced across his vision. _I can make it,_ he repeated in his head as if it were a mantra. _I can make it._ The doors soon slid open and he wasted no time, stumbling into the large room towards the blue lion, who sat at her station looking as majestic as usual. 

 

“Hey beautiful,” he muttered weakly and her presence filled his mind, soothing this pounding head and the ever-present ache surrounding his entire body. He sighed in relief. For the first time since this entire fiasco, his head felt clear. Take that, alien death flu! “Ready to kick some galra ass, Blue?” 

 

He sped up towards her, ready to hop into the cockpit and be useful, _finally…._ only, something seemed off. Her presence, something that usually filled up his mind completely, seemed distance. Hesitant, he would say. He faltered in his steps before speeding up, worry crossing through him as she withdrew from his mind, leaving only a trace of her presence to soothe his sick mind and body. He was almost to her, almost close enough to touch, when suddenly, as quick as lightening, her barrier shot up. The omega let out a loud yelp as he stumbled back, blinking rapidly up at Blue. What ever this was…it needed to stop. Now. 

 

From the windows of the hangar, galra ships zoomed past, sometimes followed by a flash of the other lions. The castle shook with the force of an entire fleet raining down on it and here Lance was…trapped out of his own Lion. Why? 

 

“Blue…?” he started, stepping forward to place a hand on top of the barrier, feeling his heart sink in his pained chest as it didn’t fall away at his touch. “What…?” 

 

He helplessly gazed up at Blue, eyes pleading. “Let me in. Blue, you—you gotta let me in.”

 

There was nothing. Not a flash of her eyes, or even her usual prod at his mind signaling that she’d heard him. Absolutely nothing. 

 

“Blue,” he voice cracked and he leaned against the barrier, exhaustion weighing him down. The castle shook again and tears stubbornly welled in his eyes, born out of sheer, desperate frustration. “Don’t do this right now. Did I do something? Are you—are you mad about something?” he paused, waiting for any sign and getting none. “Jesus, Blue. I can’t read your mind! Please, just let me it! I need to help them, they can’t do this without Voltron!” 

 

Nothing. 

 

“God damnit, Blue!” he almost startled himself with the conviction in his voice. He couldn’t—no, wouldn’t be useless right now! There was too much on the line, too much at stake! “Blue, open up right now! I can’t—I need to help them! Please, just let me in! I can’t be just some useless omega right now!” 

 

It was like the floodgates were opened and suddenly the entirety of the Blue Lion filled his head. Every emotion she was trying to convey hit him at once, almost knocking him back, but he got the gist. Her worry was almost tangible, stronger than anything else he could feel from her. She didn’t want him to go. 

 

_Too sick. Paladin is too sick, cannot get hurt anymore. Too sick._

 

Lance understood and immediately, his hatred for this damned sickness grew tenfolds. Blue was locking him out for his own protection, which was complete bullshit. 

 

“Blue,” he started with a shaky voice, still recovering from the force of her presence. “I know you’re worried, but…but if you don’t let me in, if you don’t let me _help_ , my gross space flu will be the lest of our concerns. The team _needs_ me. It needs Voltron. Blue, you gotta let me in.”

 

He could feel her hesitancy. “Hey, girl, you know what? I’ll probably be fine anyway. You’re helping me loads and I’m a lot better than I was last time. I’ll be _fine._ ” 

 

Her hesitance, while lowering in degree, still didn’t let up enough for her to lower her barrier and the omega sighed. Placing his forehead against the blue barrier, he closed his eyes and whispered one last ditch effort to sway the stubborn beast. 

 

“ _I’ll wax you with that good stuff when I get better.”_

 

Her barrier let down and he stumbled forward, a grin splitting across his face as she purred in his mind, her excitement palpable at the prospect of being thoroughly treated with the Altaen polish wax that Lance had found a couple of months ago. _Like paladin, like Lion._ While she was still hesitant about letting him onboard to fly around in his sick condition, the mere mention of some lavash treatment was enough to sway her. 

 

“Thats right, girl,” he chuckled as he struggled on his helmet and stumbled up into her now open maw. “Lets kick some galra butt.”


	9. The Taking part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance tried to pull through and help out the team in defeating the galra.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lemme start off by saying I'm so freaking sorry this is so late, like holy shit I haven't posted in over a month. Finals have been literally kicking my ass and on top of it all, I've been extremely sick so I've only been able to write like a little at a time. 
> 
> Anyway, this chapter is actually the first part of what was originally supposed to be this chapter but it was getting long and I was getting antsy about not having posted anything in a while so I decided to break it in half. Expect the next half of this chapter either tomorrow or Monday. 
> 
> If there are any really noticeable mistakes, tell me and I'll fix them!  
> Enjoy! 
> 
> oh shit and also how bout that season 6, amirite? I'm actually DEAD like holy shit.

Lance wasted no time urging Blue out of her hangars, the maw of space opened out in front of him as his comms came to life with Allura’s sharp voice, making him flinch against the sudden sound of static. 

 

“ _Lance!”_ Allura yelled, her drawn face popping up on his monitor, worry paling her complexion. “ _What are you_ doing _!”_

 

The rest of the team instantly took notice, each of their faces popping up next to hers. The moment they saw Lance sitting in the pilot seat of his Lion still looking pale and sickly, they freaked.

 

“ _Whoa, whoa, whoa, Lance? What are you-crap!”_ Pidge, who had tried to give her attention to Lance, cut from the feed as she maneuvered her lion away from danger, green flashing in the distance as she fended off the attacking fleet.

 

“ _Lance, what the hell are you doing!?”_ Keith shouted, wide eyes flickering from the battle in front of him to Lance, who swallowed as he took in the expanse of space that stretched out before him, flashes of light and explosions marking the distant battle.

 

“What does it look like I’m doing?” he chided, willing his voice to not shake as he glued his eyes to what was in front of him. With a small pause, he urged Blue forward, ready to jump into the fray. Distantly, he could feel the ache in his head and a sluggishness in his arms that he worried about. Could he do this? Could he really fight and _help_ in this condition?

 

“ _Lance, you shouldn't be here!”_ Hunk expressed, face lined with worry.

 

Coran’s voice filtered from Allura’s feed. “ _I have to agree with them, Lance. You’ll only get sicker.”_

 

“I’ll be fine, guys,” Lance tried to reason, but Keith immediately cut him off.

 

“ _Like hell you will!”_ In the distance, Lance could see the red lion swerving out of the way of galra incoming. “ _You need to get back to the castle, where it’s safe for you!”_

 

Lance gritted his teeth. “No.”

 

“ _No?!”_

 

“Keith, I’m not going to just sit there while you guys are out here! You need me!” 

 

Hunk cut between their argument. “ _I agree that we need some help, but Lance…are you sure you’re healthy enough to do this?”_

 

His head throbbed as if trying to answer Hunk’s question by itself. “Yes, I can do this,” Lance locked eyes with Shiro, who had been quiet the entire time. “Shiro, you gotta let me help. We can’t win without Voltron.”

 

Shiro paused for a second, doubt crossing his face before he sighed. “ _…Okay.”_

 

_“What?! No, Shiro, he can’t!”_ Keith roared, “ _Lance, you’re going to get hurt, you need to turn back!”_

 

“Keith—“ Lance tried to interject, voice sharp yet not able to stop him.

 

“ _You’re already sick and if you stay out here you’re only going to get worse! You can’t—you need to be safe right now and out here you_ aren’t _! I promised I’d get back and I will but I can’t do that with you out here with m—with us. Just turn back, we can handle thi—“_

 

“Keith.” Lance’s voice was soft, losing the edge but nonetheless stopping Keith’s rant short. He locked eyes with Lance through the screens, mouth opening and closing as if he wanted to continue, but physically couldn’t. “Keith, please. I’ll be fine.”

 

Keith swallowed, gritting his teeth. “ _Promise you’ll turn back if it gets too much?_ ”

 

Those violet eyes boor into his own and without warning, his mind flashed back to the soft feeling of Keith’s lips on his forehead and a warmth flooded him, steadying him in ways he didn’t know were possible at that moment. “I promise.” 

 

“ _Okay then, that’s settled,”_ Shiro cut in, “ _let’s form Voltron.”_

 

Lance broke his eye contact with Keith and swallowed. The team's screens fell from his monitor, leaving him alone in his cockpit. _It’s just another mission,_ he thought, taking a deep breath to steady his nerves. Blue’s calming rumble surrounded the omega, urging him to grip the controls tighter. By now, his presence had been noticed and a couple of galra ships broke from the fight to speed towards him. His censors came to life, notifying him that they had locked on to his position. _“_ Shit,” he cursed before spurring blue into action, focusing his attention on what was in front of him with hopes that his dizziness wouldn’t get the better of him. 

 

He evaded the galra’s locking system and jerked blue up, hoping the ships would follow him. His plan, though horribly thought out, worked as the three ships sped up behind him. Lance waited for them to get closer before he quickly jerked blue’s tail, hitting one of them and cause it to crash into another. Both ships exploded in the soundless space and the third ship swerved to avoid the explosion. Lance used the opportunity to swerve around and shoot it down before speeding off from the sight and towards the rest of the team. 

 

“ _Way to go, Lance!”_ Hunk suddenly congratulated and Lance jumped, the sound sending a spike of pain through his head. 

 

“Thanks, buddy,” he said, voice weaker than he wanted it to be. Those large maneuverings had taken a lot from him, making his stomach churn with nausea he’d much rather _not_ be feeling right now. Another grand maneuvering like that and he might just throw up all over Blue. 

 

“ _Are you okay, Lance?”_ Keith worried, his voice coming out scratchy through the comms. 

 

Lance gritted his teeth and iced a couple of galra ships in his way as he made his way into the formation. “Yeah,” he finally answered, “I’m all good in the hood, my man. Just—just fucking _peachy_.” 

 

Behind him, he saw Red cut through galra ships, his maneuvering fluid and deadly and just so _Keith_ that it made Lance want to stop and just stare mesmerized at the gracefulness of such violence. It was—it was _beautiful._

 

“ _Okay, team, we got this_ ,” Shiro reaffirmed, leading the team as they flew in formation. 

 

Lance felt in his head the moment they all connected and formed Voltron. It was almost too much, his head being filled with feeling and emotions and so many presences that he felt bile rise up in his throat. Normally, this was…it was _exhilarating_. To be joined together with the others in a way almost close to being Divine…it never fail to make him shiver in awe. But now-now it was overwhelming. Now it made him want to pull back, to flinch away and slam down a wall to separate himself from this devastating experience altogether.

 

He felt the other slightly prod through the bond and he gagged. His head was swimming and he couldn’t—he couldn’t _breathe._ His head was _pounding_ it wouldn’t stop he needed it to _stop!_

 

_“Lance…are you alright?”_ Keith’s voice suddenly cut through his panic and he jumped, snapping himself out of his stupor. 

 

“Y-yeah,” he stuttered, swallowing down the burning bile and gripping the controls under his hand tighter. _Fuck,_ he thought, _I almost completely lost it._ His head was still pounding, but he pushed it to the side, ignoring it all together. There were most important things to be doing, obviously. “I’m okay.”

 

“ _If you’re sur—”_ Shiro started but couldn’t finish as the swarm of galra ships finally attacked. _“Evasive maneuvers! We need to wipe out these ships!”_

 

The team moved as one, each of them doing their parts to fend off the attacking Galra. Voltron swept through the ships with ease, leaving destruction in their wake as they made their way to the castle ship, trying their best to defend it. Lance, albeit a little slower than the others, held his own in operating his portion of Voltron with a grim face and white knuckles. Every blast that shook the giant robot sent his mind reeling and with every burst of energy put forth into defeating the enemy, Lance had to hold back tears. Everything _hurt._ His head, his body, it all ached. _Just do your part,_ he told himself, gritting his teeth against the pain and pushing forward, delivering a swift kick to an incoming ship. 

 

“ _Nice kick!”_ Hunk praised but Lance said nothing. How could he, when everything time he opened his mouth the urge to vomit only grew? Blue’s soothing help was slowly starting to diminish because of her putting more of her energy into the fight, which just made Lance was to stop and _cry_ because why the fuck was this happening to him? What did he do to deserve such—such _ew gross sickness?!_ God, even his thoughts were starting to make no sense. Just go ahead and kill him now, because dying would be _so_ much better than this. 

 

“ _Okay Paladins,”_ Allura suddenly spoke through the comms, her voice frantic as she laid out her plan. “ _Coran and I have gathered all remaining access energy from the castle and centered it around the particle barrier, but I think we may have enough excess to operate Castle defenses.”_

 

_“Well, what are you waiting for?!”_ Pidge screeched and Lance winced, trying and failing to hide his pain filled reaction to her volume. 

 

“ _Not so loud, Pidge!”_ Keith hissed, purposefully lowering his voice so as not to cause Lance more pain. If he had a more lucid mind, he probably would have been flattered—flustered even. But right now? He could barely think, and every breathe he took felt like his chest was getting heavier. Spots littered his vision and he barely sensed Blue’s concerned prods in his mind. _This is bad. This is really, really bad._

 

“ _Lance, are you okay?”_ Keith asked, apparently noticing the omega’s lack of response. 

 

Lance opened his mouth to tell him _yes, I’m fine, we can keep going,_ but all that came out was a pitiful whine. Everything just _hurt—_ his _head,_ fuck it hurt so bad.

 

“ _Lance?!”_ Keith asked, his voice heavy with worry as he maneuvered the arm to slash open an enemy ship, “ _do you need to go back to the Castle?”_

 

Lance groaned and shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs from his sick mind and focus on the battle in front of him. “No…,” he muttered, gripping the controls tight in attempts to ground himself. “I can—I can keep doing. I’m oka—“ Lance scrunched his face up as a colossal wave of pain rolled over his head, unable to stop the whimper that escaped his lips as he doubled over, pressing his head against the cool metal of Blue’s controls. In the instant that the pain practically bulldozed him over, the connection between the Paladins snapped and Voltron fell apart. 


	10. The Taking part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fight continues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> as always, if there are mistakes please tell me!!!

The team shouted their concerned, each one quickly getting over the suddenly cut bond and swooping over to the Blue Lion, who floated stagnant in the space as her paladin shook with pain. The Galra quickly took advantage of Voltron's sudden vulnerability and attacked with gusto.

 

“ _Princess, turn on the Castle defenses!”_ Shiro barked as the rest of the Paladins tried to keep the galra off of Lance. 

 

“ _Lance?! Lance, can you hear me?!”_ Keith roared, every instinct in his body telling him to fuck the rest of the paladins and just get to Lance—get to _his_ omega. 

 

“I..I can— _fuck_ my head hurts,” Lance cursed, his chest tightening as panic flooded his senses. Blue rocked with the force of each hit from the enemy and the cockpit flashed an alarming red, status reports popping up onto his monitor to show Blue’s exterior damage. Nothing too bad, but if this incessant bombarding were to continue Blue wouldn’t be able to hold up.

 

“ _Lance, buddy, can you hear me?”_ Hunk worried and Lance swallowed, trying to take deep breathes but everything was so _bright_ and his hands wouldn’t stop shaking and _fuck_ it felt like he was _dying_ his head hurts so much everything ached, he can’t breathe oh _god_ , everything just won’t stop _flashing_ and it’s red red red red—

 

“ _Keith_ ,” he breathed out without even thinking, knowing only at that moment that he wants Keith, that Keith can help him, can make everything _stop._ He wants…he wants his _alpha._

 

Distantly he hears Shiro screaming for Allura to activate castle defenses and then suddenly there’s a flash of _white_  emitting from the castle _,_ so bright it makes him cry out, doubling over to shield his sensitive eyes from the blast of the castles superior defenses. 

 

And then he hears him. Keith. “ _I’m coming, Lance. Hold on, I’m coming.”_ He sounded so desperate and somewhere in Lance’s mind he thinks that maybe he should be worried about that, but for now all that he can think of is that fact that he’s coming for him, Keith is coming and he’s going to help him. Going to _save_ him. 

 

The knowledge almost eases his mind and he sinks into his chair, tucking his legs up under him to bury his face into his thighs, blocking out everything else in favor of just trying to breathe again, willing away the awful pain behind his eyes.

 

The next thing he knows, there’s a hand tentatively touching his shoulder and he jumps, scrambling away from the foreign touch. His mind was frenzied, the sickness lurking in his blood making his thoughts more delirious by the second. 

 

“ _Shhh, shh_ Lance—Lance calm down, it’s me.”

 

_Keith._

 

A sob rips from his lips and he reaches blindly from for Keith, grabbing onto the red paladin armor as if it would ground him as he frantically looks around, mind jumping to the Galra they were fighting, or…had been fighting? Where…wait, what? “T-the—the Galra…Keith, Keith what happened?” 

 

 

Keith wasted no time jumping into action, scooping up the sick omega and placing him in his lap as his instinct went wild in his head, screaming at him to _protect, protect the omega_. Lance barely felt it as his helmet was eased off his head and suddenly he was being lifted up, up into the air as warm, strong arms wrapped themselves around his shaking form. 

 

“It's okay, it's okay. It's all over, we're going to head back to the castle and you can rest. You did so good, Lance. So good,” Keith whispered meaningless words into the air and in that instance, Lance relaxed into the solid chest that he was being held against. It was uncomfortable, what with how hard Keith’s armor was, but it was _Keith_ and he smelt warm and nice and his chest plate was so cool against his heated skin.

 

“ _Keith, Lance, we’re heading back to the Castle,”_ Shiro’s voice came over the comm feed and Keith tightened his arms around Lance. 

 

He looked down at the omega balled up impossibly small in his lap and swallowed. He needed to get Lance back to the infirmary, but…he didn’t want to leave him. Not when he was so—so vulnerable. Lance clutched onto Keith’s chest plate, slowly rubbing the heated skin of his forehead back and forth against the cool material of the alpha’s armor, letting out soft, distressed whines that Keith had never heard from Lance before. He couldn’t—no, _wouldn’t_ just leave him like this. 

 

“You all go on ahead and take Red with you. I’m going to help pilot Blue back to the Castle, Lance is in no condition to fly right now.” 

 

“ _Are you sure, Keith?”_ Pidge voiced and Keith glanced back down at Lance, his resolve strong. 

 

“Yeah, I’m sure.” He paused, eyes lingering on Lance’s hair before he softly ran his gloved hand through the strands, his heart flipping in his chest. _So not the time, Keith._ “Get the infirmary ready, though. Lance is going to need it.”

 

“ _Affirmative, number 4,”_ Coran agreed. 

 

“ _Alright then, we’ll meet you ther—“_ Shiro started but suddenly, the static noise of the comms cut off abruptly, leaving a pregnant silence to ring in the cockpit of the Blue Lion. Keith frowned, gently leaning over the controls so as not to jostle Lance and fiddling with the comms link. 

 

“Um, guys?” he asked, suspicions growing, “can you hear me? Hello?”

 

Lance lifted his head, eyes glossed and unfocused. “Keith? Wha…” he looked up and the alpha and squinted, “I don’t feel so…so good. Can we—can we go back now?” 

 

Keith swallowed nervously, “Yeah, Lance. We’re going back, don’t worry.” 

 

Lance, apparently sated by the reply, dropped his head back onto Keith’s chest. Keith craned his neck to look out into space, only to see the rest of the lions already on their way to the Castle, the Red Lion in tow. It’s like they had no idea the comms had just cut off... Keith narrowed his eyes. Something…didn’t seem right. He tried the comms again, but this time they didn’t even connect. 

 

“Maybe…system damage?” he muttered to himself while pulling up the damage report on the Blue Lion. Just as the report blink to life on the monitor, a red alert popped up onto every screen. Alarms blared through the lion and Lance jump, crying out at the loud sounds as he clutched his head. _Shit,_ Keith thought, _shit shit shit shit._ The scanners popped up in front of him, showing a blimp indicating a craft rear by. Someone was coming. 

 

Keith leaned forward towards the rest of the controls, wincing when Lance whimpered at the sudden movements. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he muttered to the omega, as his hands flew over the controls, trying to bring up a closer image of whatever was coming their way while simultaneously trying the comms against. _Maybe it’s just a mistake. Blue was damaged so it’s possible—_

 

Keith was cut out of his own thoughts when the entire Blue Lion just…shut down. The screens went dead and the usual blue glow of the controls died out one by one, along with the constant hum of the lion’s energy. Keith jerked back from the controls, eyes wide in surprise before growing impossibly wider with panic. Something was very, very wrong. Keith hurried and reached over, trying to control again, but getting no response out of the sentient lion. It’s like she was just…just dead.

 

“Lance,” Keith shook the omega, trying to bring him back to the present. “Lance, something wrong. I need you to try and connect with the Blue Lion. Can you do that?” 

 

Lance’s head lulled to the side, resting on Keith’s shoulder. He squinted up at the alpha, before suddenly his eyes went impossibly wide, filled with a terror unlike Keith had ever seen on the omega’s face before. “Blue—Keith, Keith I can’t feel blue!” He jerked up from the alpha’s lap and leaned over the controls, trying to get a response but turning up empty-handed. He looked back at Keith with panic and pain mixing ungracefully on his face. Keith tried not to think about how pale he looked, so unlike the tan glow he usually sported. “She’s—she’s not—-Keith, I-I can’t _feel_ her!” 

 

Keith grabbed Lance just as he doubled over, face scrunching up in pain as a few tears escaped his ocean eyes. Keith’s heart hammered in his chest, frantic eyes glancing out into space in search for whatever had triggered the Blue lion's scanners. The rest of the team were already halfway to the castle, so they must not have even noticed the blue lions current predicament. His mind filled with horrible idea after horrible idea. Was it the galra? Had they come back so quickly? What was going on?! In his lap, Lance gripped his head, his breaths coming faster and faster in what Keith could recognize as an oncoming panic attack. Whatever was happening, he needed to get ahold of the situation fast. 

 

“Lance, Lance just calm down. It’s probably just a—a system failure. I’m sure she’ll reboot in no time,” Keith tried to reassure him as he glued his eyes to their surroundings, not risking the chance of it being caught off guard by whatever had triggered blue’s alarms. 

 

“No, Keith, no!” Lance gripped Keith’s shoulders. “I can’t feel her _at all_. It’s like she’s- like she’s _dea—_ “ 

 

_Boom!_

 

A large crash rocked the lion, sending both paladins out of the pilot's chair and onto the floor. Not giving himself a chance to recover, Keith scrambled to Lance, who was shakily trying to push himself off the ground without success. Keith barely even placed a hand on the omega’s shoulder before another explosion tossed the lion around as if something were trying to get it. Without a second thought, Keith jumped over Lance’s body, shielding him as sparks and debris fell around them. _Shit!!_ Something was _definitely_ trying to force its way into the lion! 

 

“Keith!” Lance yelped, pushing Keith away hard enough to send him to the other side of the cockpit, then scrambling against a far wall just as the entire ceiling above them fell where they once laid. 

 

“Lance!” Keith yelled, swallowing down his panic when he realized that the lion had been breached and oxygen was quickly leaving the interior of the lion. His eyes flew to Lance’s helmet, then back to the omega himself who was slouched against a wall, gasping for air that wasn’t there. _Shit._ He jumped into action, grabbing the helmet from underneath a pile of wires and metal that used to the ceiling of the cockpit. He quickly sealed it over Lance’s head and breathed a sigh of relief when the blue paladin took a deep breath, color returning to his face—or at least, the same sick pallor he’d been sporting for almost a week now. 

 

“You’re okay,” he breathed, not knowing what to do with his hands other than to just touch Lance; his shoulders, his arms — he just needed to _touch_ him, make sure he was there and alive. 

 

“Keith,” Lance weakly muttered, eyes unfocused. 

 

“I’m right here, we’re okay,” Keith reassured, but then Lance weakly shook his head, his eyes clearing up just enough for Keith to notice that he wasn’t looking at him…he was looking behind him.

 

“ _Keith,_ ” Lance stressed, his eyes growing wide as he suddenly jerked, arms pulling at the alpha’s armor, “b-behind—“ 

 

Keith barely had time to jerk around before someone—some _thing_ —was grabbing the collar of his armor and tossing him across the cockpit as if he was a rag doll.

 

Lance watched in horror as the hulking figure clad in a gleaming, galra space suit launched itself onto Keith before the alpha even had a chance to pick himself up, grabbing the red paladin by the foot and slamming him onto the ground again. _God,_ it just—it just _dropped_ from the hole in the ceiling. A hole that led into fucking _space!_ Then just fucking _attacked Keith._ _What the fuck was happening?! How did it even get_ in _here?!_

 

Lance barely realized he was screaming out Keith’s name; all he could feel was the pain that throbbed behind his eyes and the terror that seized his blood at the sight of Keith being thrown across the cockpit. It advanced towards Keith, raising both its fists into the air and then just starting to _pound_ on the alpha laying vulnerable on the floor. Lance’s heart stopped when the alien raised it’s arms one last time and brought them down fast onto Keith, a loud _crack_ of bones breaking filling the air so loud that even the omega could hear it. _God,_ he had to do something, _anything_. That—that thing was going to _kill_ him! 

 

Lance scrambled towards the pile of metal and wires that laid behind the pilot chair, cursing himself for not grabbing his Bayard before he left the infirmary as he yanked out a large metal beam. Blinking away the dots that spotted his vision, he stumbled over to Keith and the intruder as fast as he could, rising his makeshift weapon above his head to bring it down onto the aliens back, trying to get it away from Keith. The creature roared in fury at the pain that Lance suspected was more of an annoyance than anything. It whipped around and Lance finally saw its face, snarling behind the gleaming space helmet. It was galra, male by the looks of it, looking more animalistic than any galra he had ever seen before. Before Lance could react, the creature raised its arm and _shit—_

 

Lance went sailing through the air, his entire body reeling from the force of the Galra's backhand as he landed with a thud against the controls of the Blue Lion, collapsing into the pilot chair with a yelp. Jesus _Christ_ , that thing had one hell of a backhand. 

 

“Lance!” Keith bellowed, finally having the opportunity to summon his Bayard as he scrambled to his feet, trying not to double over with the force of the pain that came from his broken body. He charged at the enemy with a furious scream, sword poised to strike into the side of the Galra, but the towering enemy was too fast. He skirted out of the way with a sneer etched on his face, grabbing the sword by the blade and tugging it from Keith’s weak grasp, tossing it to the side before he seized Keith by the throat, lifting him up into the air. 

 

Lance tried to lift himself up, tried to get to Keith, tried to not be just some _useless_ omega. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t do absolutely anything as the galra raised a struggling Keith impossibly higher into the air before slamming him down onto the hard metal floor. Lance screamed, terror chilling his blood when he saw that Keith wasn’t moving. 

 

“Get away from him!” Lance bellowed, adrenaline giving him the strength to scramble out of the pilot’s seat and launch himself at the Galra, who did nothing but leer at the omega. “You—you fucking bastard!” 

 

The Galra chuckled, dark yellow eyes watching in amusement as Lance charged at him with nothing but his bare hands. The only thing echoing in his mind was the ever repetitive string of _KeithKeithKeithKeithKeith_ as the hulking galra grabbed Lance by the throat, much like he had Keith and _squeezed_. 

 

Lance’s vision blurred, his head pounding in his ears as he kicked out his feet, hands scrambling as the gloved hands that gripped at his throat, claws cutting into his skin and stinging as he squeezed and squeezed and _squeezed._ Darkness edged around his vision and Lance tried to cry out, but it came out as a gurgle as his face went red then purple. He was going to die. He was going to _fucking_ die in his own _fucking_ Lion. 

 

Just as Lance felt unconsciousness creep up on him, the galra let him go and he collapsed onto the ground next to Keith, his chest heaving with the effort to suck in as much oxygen as possible.

 

Lance barely had time to glance at Keith’s unconscious form before a shadow fell over him and he squinted up, his heart hammering in his chest as terror made his entire body shake. The galra loomed over him, a sneer twisting up his face. Lance tried to blink away the black dots that overcame his vision but knew unconsciousness was inevitable. The galra pressed a button on the side of his helmet, no doubt opening up some communications link. Just as his vision blackened and everything blurred, he heard the gravelly voice of the Galra. “This is Orzak. Tell Commander Zrak that I’ve captured two paladins of Voltron.” 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry not sorry
> 
> btw this took me so long to write like I kept having to write it over again plus like my fever just broke so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ I'm finally getting better!!


	11. From Bad to Worse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance awakens to find himself in a fuck ton of trouble and Shiro is seriously too old for this shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit, guys. It's been FOREVER! Worry not, I'm not abandoning this story! Writing just been pretty slow and my summers been stupid hectic. Seriously guys like this has been a WEIRD summer. Like the 'I got scammed out of 5 bucks from an old Asian lady at central park' kinda weird....which may or may not have actually happened.
> 
> Anywho, enjoy the chapter! Sorry if its short or not exactly the greatest things ever but at least its something, amiright?

 

Lance woke up without warning, gasping for breath as his eyes blinked awake so wide it hurt. Footsteps echoed off the walls somewhere in the distance, the very sound of them sending his heart into a panicked race. His head throbbed with every beat of his heart and he wanted to groan, to do _something_ but it was like his body wasn’t his own. Every instinct in him told him to run, to save himself from the footsteps that seemed to be coming closer and closer to him. But his body was against him and the only thing he could do was lay there, eyes wide and panicked with his heart hammering in his chest as something—no, some _one_ grabbed ahold of his wrists, twisting them painfully above his head and _pulling_ , dragging his aching body along with them as if he was nothing but a rag doll. Where were they taking him? Where was he? Where…where was _Keith_? Oh God, where was he?! The last thing he remembered…Keith…that Galra…

 

A sudden jerk from whoever was dragging him has his head bang against the cool metal floor beneath him. Pain exploded behind his eyes and he yelped, his throat stinging with the act of a sound forcing its way out of his damaged throat. He tried and failed to stop the tears that weld in his eyes and spilled over his cheeks at the deep ache the sudden pain added to his entire body. Not only did he still have this stupid alien illness still tormenting his worn out body, now he could add on ‘head injury caused by rude ass alien’ to the ever growing list of stuff wrong with him.

 

Realizing too late that he was sans a helmet, he craned his head forward to look at the rest of his body and cringed at what he saw. All of his armor had been stripped from his body, leaving him clad in only the white infirmary skin suit he'd been put into days before when everything was simple and he only had some alien space flu to worry about.

 

The dragging came to an abrupt stop, the sound of a door sliding open signaling them entering another room as his captor readjusted their grip on his wrists before yanking him along. The omega twisted and turned his head to get a look at his surroundings, quickly recognizing the strange enclosures they passed as prison cells. Dread filled his stomach at the realization that he was soon going to be locked up in one of those cells, and that dread grew tenfolds when he wondered if Keith was already locked up—and if so, which one? Was…was he even _alive_? 

 

Lance quickly expelled the horrible thoughts, not willing to even so much as wonder at the notion of the alpha being dead. He couldn’t let himself succumb to thoughts that, if pondered on for too long, would send him spiraling down a hopeless tunnel of absolute depression.

 

All of the sudden, the dragging ceased and with a quick look around him, Lance saw that they had stopped in front of a prison cell. His captor readjusted his wrists in their grip so that they could face the cell head on, no doubt to open up the cell using the panel situated beside its steel door. Taking the opportunity, Lance tilted his head back as far as it could go in attempts to get a better look at his captor. His head pounded in disapproval at the strain it put on his neck but he pushed the pain to the side. His eyes followed up the galra uniform-clad torso of his captor to their face and immediately his heart sank. 

 

It was the galra from before. The one that dropped from the hole in the blue lion and beat the shit out of them. Without his helmet, Lance could see just how…terrifying he looked. Dark purple fur covered a strong face that, if not for the four thick claw shaped scars that ran down his left side, would have probably been handsome in a weird, galra-y sort of way. It was hard to look at—the way the scars dug into his eye socket and left the usual yellow galra eye a shade lighter and milkier, the way it twisted the skin at his lips, pulling at the surrounding tissue and telling all that it had healed very wrongly. Lance could almost feel bad for the galra, if not for the memory of Keith dangling from his choking grasp that was imprinted on the back of his eyelids.

 

He had absolutely no chance of escaping, that's for sure.

 

The cell door slid open with a loud _clank_ , making Lance jump. The galra glanced down at the omega then sneered, grotesquely twisting his scarred lips even more. “Welcome to your new home,” he chuckled darkly then, with a harsh yank, threw him into the cell. 

 

Lance groaned at the impact, scrambling to his feet now that he was free to rush to the door, knowing he wouldn’t make it but still feeling the need to at least try. The door slid shut in his face, the small square window mocking him as the galra smirked from the other side. 

 

“Let me out!” Lance croaked, his voice scratchy and barely coherent as he slammed his hands against the door in rage. This—this wasn’t _fair._ Everything on his body hurt, he was going to start his first heat _ever_ in a few weeks and now _this_?! 

 

A groan came from deep within the dark cell, making Lance jump. Oh now, this is just great. There just _had_ to be someone else in the cell with him! It made sense, really. What with how horrible Lance’s life had been going, he practically expected something even more terrible to feel the need to outdo the crap that happened in his lion. 

 

“Who…Who’s there?” he asked, his voice trembling as his imagination went wild with worse possible scenarios. Steeling his nerves, he limped lightly toward the darker part of the rather large cell, squinting into the darkness to try and make out any distinguishing shapes. Another groan came from the very corner Lance was squinting out and this time—this time it sounded almost…familiar. 

 

“ _L—Lance…_ ” the voice choked out and immediately Lance froze, the blood in his veins turning to ice as he _recognized_ the voice. 

 

He was moving before his mind caught up with his realization, a single name on his lips as he plunged into the dark corner.

 

“Keith!” 

 

Dropping to his knees, he felt his way along the metal floor, blindly searching for Keith until his hand hit something hard, making him freeze. Cold yet slick, Lance immediately recognized it for armor. Not letting himself wonder about the slickness he was feeling on what had to be Keith’s leg, the omega gripped the armor, waiting for his eyes to finally adjust to the darkness until he could just make out the entire shape through the darkness. Keith. It was _Keith._ He was alive! 

 

“Oh thank god,” Lance wheezed before crawling forward, his insides pinched with worry as he finally took in the alpha. He was just…lying there. If it weren’t for the steady — yet undeniably slow — rise of his chest Lance could think he was dead. Belatedly the omega noted that Keith still had on most of his armor, all but his helmet which Lance could just make out in the other corner of the room. It was likely tossed in here when they threw the older alpha in. 

 

Lance tried to keep his speaking to a minimal, seeing as how even his own breathe scratched at his throat— _clawed hands squeezing at his throat, so much pain oh god he was going to_ die— but the Omega couldn’t stop the small ‘shit’ that escaped his mouth as he made his way to Keith’s head, blinking away the haze of dizziness that had been incessantly lurking at the edge of his vision as he scanned up and down the alphas body, breathing a sigh of relief at realizing that he was just knocked out and, from the looks of it, only had small scratches here and there. He likely had some internal injuries, like a cracked rib or something, but Lance knew there wasn’t really anything he could do about that. So, there was nothing _too_ serious. Good. Now Lance just had to wait for Keith to wake up…and hope he himself doesn’t end up passing out in the meantime.

 

Warily situating himself against the nearby wall, Lance tried his best to be gentle as he dragged Keith body forward in order to rest the unconscious alpha’s head in his lap. The angry bruising around the alphas throat caught Lance’s eye and he gulped, his heart lurching at the sight before quickly pulling his gaze from it, finding himself not able to stomach the sight of it for too long. A quick, fleeting touch to his own tender throat told him he probably had the same bruising. _This could be worse_ , he thought as he forced his eyes to watch Keith’s chest rise and fall. _One of us could be dead._

 

Letting out a hefty sigh, Lance let his hand tangle in the alpha’s hair, gently smoothing out the tangles with deft fingers. “We’ll be fine,” he whispered, though he knew he sounded less than convinced. “We’ll…We’ll be fine.” 

 

 

* * *

 

Shiro knew the second the rest of the Paladins—sans Lance and Keith—took off back to the Castle with the red lion in tow that something bad was going to happen. He felt it in his gut, the way a knot formed and twisted at his insides made him give in to the urge to glance back at the blue lion. After telling them that they would meet them back at the Castle, he hadn’t gotten an answer back from them and it was making him sort of worried. The sight that met his had him cursing. 

 

“Shit, shit, shit, _shit_ ,” he stressed, quickly opening the comms up to contact the rest of the paladins as he jerked the Black Lion around, racing toward the spot where the Blue Lion was supposed to be. 

 

“Paladins, we’ve got trouble!” he yelled. 

 

“ _What’s wrong, Shiro?”_ Hunk asked, clear worry in his voice before he must have realized what exactly the problem was. “ _Oh my god.”_

 

“ _Guys, what’s happening?”_ Pidge chimed in just as Allura opened up the comms on her end. 

 

“ _Paladins, there’s something wrong! I’ve lost the connection to the blue lion!”_

 

Shiro blocked it all out as his eyes scanned the open space. The Blue Lion…Lance and Keith…they were gone. 

 

“ _Guys, where the fuck did the Blue Lion go?!”_ Pidge screeched and Shiro shook his head in disbelieve. A glance at the scanners showed the alpha exactly what he was seeing. No Blue Lion. No Lance. No Keith. There was just nothing. 

 

“Hunk, try and open up communication to the Blue Lion. They've…they’ve gotta be _somewhere,”_ Shiro commanded, his heart jackrabbiting with panic as he barely heard Hunk’s shaky ‘yes sir’. _Where the fuck were they?!_

 

“ _They couldn’t have just…just disappeared!?”_ Allura yelled just as Coran’s voice came to life. 

 

“ _Princess, our scanners have picked up a Galra ship leaving the radar!”_

 

“ _What?!”_

 

“How did it get passed us?!” Shiro demanded, fisted clenched at the controls. 

 

Hunks face popped up on the alpha’s monitors, the betas pale and worried expression making Shiro’s stomach swim. “ _Shiro, the connection isn’t going through!”_

 

_Shit._

 

“ _What do we do?!”_ Hunk asked, his own Lion quickly catching up with Black. 

 

“Pidge, find a way to amplify your scanners from the Green Lion to see if you can pick up the Blue Lions signal. Coran, send me the coordinates of the Galra ships last position before it dropped off our radars, it couldn’t have gotten far” barked Shiro, steeling his nerved to be the leader he was supposed to be. 

 

“ _On it.”_

 

“ _Shiro, they’re literally nowhere. It’s like they just…just disappeared!”_ Hunk worried and Shiro gulped, his eyes frantically scanned the open space before him. He was right. It’s like they just disappeared. A small _ping_ pulled him out of his searching. The coordinates. 

 

Coran chimed in before Shiro could plug them in to follow them. “ _I tried my best to pinpoint where they could have gone, but based on how fast the ship must have come and gone, there’s no telling which direction they went.”_

 

Shiro swallowed, an anger boiling up under his skin that was so unlike him but his brother and the pack omega were _missing._ His anger was completely justified and almost righteous. “We’ll follow the coordinates anyway. It’s without a doubt that it has at least _something_ to do with where Keith and Lance went.” 

 

“ _Alright. At least come back to the castle so we can put the red lion in its hanger and wormhole if necessary,”_ Allura reasoned and Shiro clenched his jaw. He was hesitant to leave because what if they get farther away? But…the reasoning still stood…

 

“Alright,” he conceded, “everyone hurry and head back to the castle ship. Princess, prepare to wormhole to the last coordination of the Galra ship and…and contact the Blade of Marmora.” 

 

“ _Why the Blade?”_ Pidge asked as they rushed their Lion back to the castle. 

 

“Because if anyone would know more about what just happened, it'd be them.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always, if there's something glaringly wrong please tell me!!! Constructive criticism is always welcomed!!

**Author's Note:**

> First time posting on ao3. Comment and kudos are appreciated...y'all seriously I've got no idea what I'm doing so some encouragement can go a really long way. 
> 
> Also hi, this is totally un-betaed so don't judge me too badly.


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